Thrown together at last
by truegryffindorgrit
Summary: James' and Lily's last year at Hogwarts and things are finally to look up between them, but with interfering friends and a secret that threatens to blow them apart, how long will it be before things go horribly wrong? Warning: May cause you to laugh out
1. Lily Reflects

Ok this story is a prequel to my other fanfic "Harry Potter and the Stranger at the Door". That ones not finished and has even got to this bit in the story but I just wanted to write this down. Please read and review!!!  
  
*****  
  
Chapter 1 : Lily Reflects  
  
Lily Evan's had a great 6 years. Ever since she'd discovered she was a witch and went off to study at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizarding, into a completely new world. Her parent's had been absolutely delighted, thrilled with the prospect of having a fully grown witch in the family, her sister Petunia had been less so. They had never really been close but they were far from enemies. Petunia had taken the news rather badly and had since taken to calling Lily every name under the sun when she thought their parents couldn't hear.  
  
This didn't really bother Lily that much. Petunia was only one person and so Lily usually just chose to ignore her, she was away for most of the year anyway. Home was good to Lily, but Hogwarts was just so... great! She had thoroughly enjoyed her life there, with four big exceptions... Peter Pettigrew, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black and James Potter, collectively known as the Marauders. She supposed Peter wasn't really that bad, Peter wasn't really anything; Remus actually was quite pleasant and responsible, Lily had got to know him better due to the fact they were both made Prefects in their 5th year; Sirius Black on the other hand was arrogant and cocky, worsened by the fact he was probably the best looking boy in the year, but my god he knew it; finally the bane of Lily's existence... James Potter, he had made it his purpose to torture and tease her beyond belief, Lily suspected it was because she was muggle-born, that was usually the reason she got picked on and she had got that a lot.  
  
Lily had faced interest and controversy in her first experience of the wizarding world, on the Hogwarts Express. She had been sitting in a compartment by herself, very a little apprehensive about what was to come, after all she had no one to tell her what being a witch was like, or what Hogwarts was like, and she didn't know anyone. A girl with flowing curly, blonde hair abruptly interrupted her loneliness however.  
  
"What you doing sitting in here all alone?" She said as she took the seat directly in front of Lily. Lily was a little taken back by the girl's forwardness.  
  
"Em..." Lily mumbled something about not knowing anyone.  
  
"Well I'm Caitlin Kenworthy. I'm in first year, I'm from Godric's Hollow, my wand's 7 inches, made from willow and a single unicorn hair, and I support the Ballycastle Bats!" Lily tried to digest this sudden rush of information slowly, but Caitlin was looking at her intently. "You go." She prompted.  
  
The first three Lily could answer no problem.  
  
"I'm Lily Evans. I'm in first year too. I live in Surrey and my wand is 10 and a quarter inches, made of willow." Here she began to falter a bit. "Em... I'm afraid I don't know who the Ballycastle Bats are."  
  
"What?! You don't follow Quidditch?!"  
  
"Quidditch?" At this Lily noticed Caitlin had started to stare at her suspiciously, as if she was about to pull off her mask and reveal that she was secretly a mass murderer.  
  
"What's with you then?" Lily thought for a moment.  
  
"I'm sorry. I don't know that much about witches and wizards. I'm the first wizard in my family see, and..." She stopped when she noticed the look on Caitlin's face.  
  
"Wow...imagine meeting a muggle-born on the first train journey. I've never met one of you before. It must be so daunting to come here, you're really brave. You must so know much about muggles."  
  
"Yea but that's hardly going to help me here is it?"  
  
"Oh don't worry about that. I'll take you through the basics." She then proceeded to tell Lily all about Quidditch and growing up in a wizarding family, she even explained who the Ballycastle Bats were. "Quidditch team from Northern Ireland. Dads from there. He's had me supporting them since I was 3."  
  
About halfway through Caitlin explaining the Ministry of Magic the compartment door opened again. This time it was a boy that entered. He was small and skinny, and his dark hair was messy and ruffled, almost hiding his brown eyes. As he entered Caitlin greeted him with a big grin. Her whole attitude changed completely, she became giggly and a bit flirty.  
  
"Jamie!" She cried as she flung her arms around his neck. "Come sit! This is Lily, she's muggle-born! Isn't that amazing? Lily this is James Potter." James said nothing. He was staring at Lily apparently stunned. "Jamie speak!" Caitlin commanded.  
  
"Y-you're b-beautiful." He finally stuttered at Lily.  
  
"Jamie!!" Caitlin cried apparently appalled, as she cracked him round the back of the head.  
  
"Will you go out with me?" He said quickly.  
  
"Right that's it out! If your not going to be sensible you can clear off!" And with that Caitlin threw him back out into the corridor.  
  
"Goodbye Lily!" He yelled back in, as Caitlin pressed her palm on his forehead, pushing his head out and squeezing the door shut.  
  
"Sorry about that Lils. James can be a bit of a joker, I hope he didn't offend you. We grew up together, he's from Godric's Hollow too. What'd ya think of him?" She asked apparently waiting for Lily's approval.  
  
"He's a bit of a runt really isn't he?" Caitlin looked a bit taken a back for a moment and then concurred.  
  
"Well yea I suppose, but it's been slim pickings round where I live, and he was the best of a bad bunch. Let's hope Hogwarts has better talent to offer!" Lily couldn't help but laugh at this.  
  
And that was that. Caitlin, boy crazy, brainy and beautiful, and Lily, always standing up for what was right and following the rules, became best friends. Caitlin over the years matured, and found that instead of running after them, boys were more likely to follow her if she appeared hard to get and mysterious. This realisation, coupled with the fact that she was absolutely stunning, had made one of the most sought after girls in the school. She had several minor dalliances during her school career, but not anything serious. Lily on the other hand, had kept herself to her books, she was popular sure, but no one had ever really tempted her, so she kept single. Everything had been fine with this arrangement... until the end of fifth year. Something had happened with the Marauders that Caitlin had been sworn to secrecy on. It took a while for Lily to get over the fact that her best friend was holding secrets from her, especially as it was to do with them, but got over it she did. Then Caitlin did something that Lily wasn't sure she could ever forgive her for...  
  
*****  
  
Sorry I like cliffhangers :D. Please read and review. I'll update it soon. 


	2. James' Opinion

Thanks for my reviews. Please if there's anyone else out there just leave a note saying you've read it. You don't have to say its good! Thanks :D!  
  
***** Chapter 2 : James' Opinion  
  
There was no doubting it. James Potter had had it good. Growing up in a wealthy, loving family had its advantages. Although he had always been a bit on the small side, his larger than life personality more than made up for it. He had always been a bit of a show off and a prankster. This had started as a way to compensate for his being small. "Be loud," he had thought. "Then people will notice and like you!"  
  
Indeed this seemed to be the case. Over the years James had won many friends and admirers, including the three people he'd come to trust most in the world, Peter, Remus and Sirius. Peter was a bit of a pain sometimes but his heart was always in the right place; Remus was always the sane one, the one guaranteed not to loose his head in a crisis, he also acted as James' conscious; finally and far from least was James' best friend, well he was practically his brother. If you imagine those old cartoons where an angel sits on one shoulder and a devil on the other, Remus was James' angel, whilst Sirius was most definitely his devil. He was always egging James on, helping him formulate their latest schemes, and congratulating him when they went particularly well. James and Sirius were a double-act, a duo, and you definitely didn't get one without the other!  
  
This arrangement seemed to suit them well, and as the years went by Quidditch practice took its toll on James' body, and he turned into, what was considered to be a bit of a heartthrob around Hogwarts. Far from the "runt" that had first met Lily Evans on the Hogwarts Express all those years ago. Ah Lily Evans. What could be said about that girl? If his friends, the Marauders, were the most important people in his world, then Lily WAS his world. Unfortunately he wasn't too sure about how to go about making him hers. He had tried all his usual antics, teasing her, pulling pranks on her, and being (if it was possible) even louder when he was around her. All this was to no avail. Lily took offence at everything he did, reporting him several times. James just didn't understand it. His pranks didn't hurt anyone! They didn't cause any lasting damage! Even his adventures around the Hogwarts grounds, as illegal animagi, with a fully- grown werewolf were deemed "safe" by James, he and Sirius were big enough animals to keep him in check.  
  
This had remained James opinion on his antics until towards the end of 5th year. The incident that took place could only be described as James' wake- up call. It was full moon and the Marauders had decided to take a wander about the grounds of the school. It was 3 in the morning so they figured the coast would be pretty clear. About halfway through their stroll around the edge of the Forbidden Forest it happened. There standing about 50 yards in front of them, sneaking up to the castle with a parcel in her hands, was Caitlin Kenworthy. The now transformed Remus took one look at her and made a dash towards her. A large black dog gave a tremendous bark in the darkness, and Caitlin turned to see where the noise had come from. James watched as she froze in terror as the werewolf ran ever closer to her. Sirius and he managed to catch up with him barely five feet from her. James was pushing Remus, using his antlers, back into the Whomping Willow, which a small rat had already ran on and frozen, when he realised that Sirius had broken the number one rule of the Marauders. Sirius had transformed back, therefore giving away his and their identities. James watched out the corner of his eye, as he saw Sirius holding the now hysterical Caitlin and walking her back up to the castle.  
  
The next few weeks seemed to be a bit of a blur. Sirius made Caitlin promise not to tell anyone about what had happened, Caitlin had given her promise to Remus that she wouldn't tell anyone about his condition, and Caitlin and Sirius started to get close...very close.  
  
It wasn't that James didn't like Caitlin, they had grown up together in fact, and James had always enjoyed her company, ever since she had stopped being so giddy around boys. It wasn't that Sirius had got someone to replace him, a girlfriend and a best friend have very different roles in a teenage boy's life. It wasn't that he didn't trust Caitlin, so far she had kept true to her word and hadn't even told her best friend Lily about what had happened. There was the problem, Lily Evans, Sirius had chosen to go out with her best friend. This is James' eyes was a clear mockery of the fact that he couldn't get her to go out with him. At first he thought this was Sirius' way of teasing him. For the first few weeks he had been abrupt and standoffish with him, Sirius had presumed this was because he was mad at him for transforming that night, James did nothing to put him off this assumption. Over the summer however James realised that Sirius was actually quite serious about Caitlin.  
  
It was then that James began to look at the situation from new eyes. If Sirius was going to spend all his time with Caitlin, and James was going to spend all his time with Sirius, and Caitlin was going to spend all her time with Lily... then that meant... YES! He was going to spend all his time with Lily! He had also resolved that his pranking days were over... well his SERIOUS pranking days were over... well ok, he wasn't going to set werewolves on people anymore. But that was a start wasn't it?  
  
Obviously this start was something, because throughout his 6th year he had calmed down so much that at the end of it Dumbledore had made him Head Boy. 6th year had been uneventful Lily-wise, but 7th year was going to be different. Oh yes, James had decided, this was going to be their year!  
  
*****  
  
Ok I don't think I really liked that chapter. What did you think? I needed to put it in for the plot though. It'll get better soon I promise!! 


	3. Head Girl Perks

Ok sorry about my bad punctuation, I'll try and sort that out in the future. Also James just saw a girl he liked, so he blurted that out because he didn't know how to act, because he was 11. Hope that answers all your queries! Thanks for reviewing it anyway! Also I'm sorry about the cliffhangers but it's the only way to keep you reading, see there's method to my madness!!  
  
Ok in case you haven't caught on yet, this fic is going to be told from Lily's (look correct grammar! :D) point of view, and then James'. Sometimes they'll be covering the same event, sometimes they'll just go on with the story. Right I'll get started now. :P  
  
*****  
  
Chapter 3 : Head Girl Perks  
  
Oh yes! Caitlin had messed up big time! Her going out with Sirius Black had left Lily with two options; she could cut her out of her life, or she could grin and bear the fact that she was going to have to spend some time with the Marauders. She obviously chose the latter option, the thought of letting Caitlin go was unbearable, and it was hard to be mad at her when she was obviously so happy with Sirius. It wasn't that Caitlin was gushing about him at every opportunity, the exact opposite in fact, Lily had never seen her so introverted. Lily took this as a sign that the boy-crazy blonde-bombshell had finally decided to settle down. Well settle down for Caitlin standards anyway, which meant that she and Sirius broke up and got back together several times a month.  
  
Anyway that was the way 6th year had been. Now however, they were all entering their 7th and final year at Hogwarts.  
  
Lily and Caitlin had taken a compartment towards the front of the Hogwarts Express. Lily was enjoying the fact it was just the two of them. It would appear that Sirius had taken too long to reply to one of her owls, whilst he was away on a camping trip with James, and so they had broken up again.  
  
"He was probably nesting his owl in someone else's barn," said Caitlin as she sat down opposite Lily.  
  
"Caitlin you know that's not true."  
  
"Yea well, who cares? It's over." Lily doubted this, but she couldn't help enjoying the fact that she had her best friend all to herself again. "So Lils, Head girl then?" Lily blushed. Lily couldn't believe she'd been bestowed with the honour, she had made a vow to herself that she was going to do the best job. One thing was bugging her though.  
  
"Have you heard who the Head boy is then?" Caitlin nodded, as she gazed out the compartment door, up the corridor. "Who?"  
  
"Now, now Lils. You know it's tradition for you not to know until you get to your private rooms." Lily smiled at this. The Head boy and girl were given their own private quarters, with their own private rooms leading off a small common room. Each also had their own en-suite bathrooms as well, which Lily had heard told were more extravagant than even the Prefect bathroom.  
  
"Oh go on just one clue!"  
  
"Oh alright! He's in Gryffindor."  
  
"Must be Remus then. That's alright, I wouldn't mind sharing with Remus." Caitlin gave her a startled look for a moment, and then managed to compose herself. She went back to gazing out of the compartment door window, but suddenly turned and fixed her gaze on Lily.  
  
"So you looking forward to being Head girl then?" Lily pondered this strange question for a moment. She must have written Caitlin a 5-foot letter when she found out, telling her in every intricate detail how excited she was about it. Her pondering stopped immediately as she saw the tall figure of Sirius Black stalk past the window. He didn't give Caitlin so much as a sideward glance as he walked by. In an attempt to save her friend's feelings Lily answered quickly, so as to give Caitlin something else to concentrate on.  
  
"Yea, I think it'll be good."  
  
"Do you know what you're going to have to do yet?"  
  
"Em... yea... I was... given a list..." She tried to answer, but too much of her attention had now been drawn to a figure jumping and waving at her from down the corridor. It was Sirius. Once he knew he'd got Lily's attention, he pointed sideways, to indicate Caitlin and then screamed silently in frustration. Lily gave a small giggle.  
  
"Lils...Lily...LILY!!" She looked back at Caitlin. "What's so funny?"  
  
"Oh nothing." She glanced back at Sirius and saw that he was now pretending to sob hysterically into his left hand. His right hand had draw out his wand and he was now pointing it against his temple, like a gun. At this Lily couldn't help but laugh.  
  
"What's out there?"  
  
"Nothing! Look seriously, don't worry about it!" But Caitlin was already trying to peer around the doorway to look. "Oh look a hot-air balloon!" Lily yelled pointing out the window. Caitlin dashed to look. Lily knew this would work, Caitlin always loved muggle inventions. With Caitlin's attention diverted, Lily widened her eyes at Sirius, indicating to him that his luck was up. He gave a jaunty wave and dashed out of sight. Lily breathed a sigh of relief. Another of Sirius and Caitlin's screaming matches had been avoided.  
  
The rest of the journey was uneventful. As they got off the train Lily was greeted by the Deputy Headmistress, Professor McGonagall.  
  
"Miss Evans come with me please." Lily followed her into one of the horseless carriages. "Little change in the format this year Lily. It has been decided that because both head boy and girl are from the same house, so unusual..." She beamed down at Lily, who knew it would have simply delighted McGonagall to have both from her house. "Yes very unusual... But anyway, it has been decided to move the Head boy and girl accommodation to the Gryffindor tower, so that you can both use the main common room as well."  
  
Indeed as Lily followed McGonagall into the Gryffindor common room some 15 minutes later, she noticed that it now had an extra staircase leading off it.  
  
"On up you go!" McGonagall prompted. Lily climbed the spiral staircase until she reached a painting of a lion cub. McGonagall tapped him three times on the nose and said "emotions". As the painting swung open Lily noticed that there were already two figures in the room. The first, facing her was the Headmaster, Professor Dumbledore. Although the second figure had his back to her, hands held behind his back, she knew that messed up hair anywhere.  
  
"You!" She gasped.  
  
James Potter turned round and gave her a cheeky grin.  
  
*****  
  
Ok I liked that chapter better. Is it moving fast enough for you all now? I only put the first two chapters in to give it a bit of background. I didn't want to start with "Randomly Sirius was going out with this girl we've never heard of, for some unknown reason". Plus I like background. This fic is in fact just background to my other story. Anyway please read and review!! 


	4. James' New Room

Ok I've nothing really to say here except thanks and keep reviewing!! Constructive criticism is welcome! I need all the help I can get, as I'm new at this. Ok now on with the story!  
  
*****  
  
Chapter 4 : James' New Room  
  
Of course James had always had a strong suspicion it would Lily who would walk through the door. Ever since he'd heard that the Head girl was also in Gryffindor. But it was still a relief to see her actually walk into the room.  
  
"You!" she had gasped at him. James had responded with one of his trademark grins.  
  
'Yep,' he had thought. 'This is going to be a lot of fun!' Dumbledore had then entered into his speech, how this was a great responsibility that had been bestowed on, how they were now role models for the school, basically all the stuff James had already read in his letter. Lily and he had stood in complete silence whilst they listened, he still with his big grin on his face, Lily with a look that said 'I am really interested in what this man is saying, but I also want you to know I loathe you James Potter!'  
  
Once Dumbledore had finished, McGonagall and he had left to them to "familiarise themselves" with their new surroundings. Lily had at once slumped down in one of the two armchairs in the room beside an enormous fireplace. There were also two ornate, mahogany desks and a bookcase which contained any books that Dumbledore thought would help them with their subjects (James – Transfiguration, Potions, Care of Magical Creatures, Charms and Defence against the Dark Arts; Lily – Transfiguration, Potions, Arithmancy, Charms and Defence against the Dark Arts). There were no windows but two doors that led off the room, James assumed that these were to their rooms. The room was decorated just like the main common room, and in fact felt like they had just shrunk the main one down a bit.  
  
"So," he said in a voice he thought was both mature and alluring. "Just you and me then Lils?"  
  
"Have you got the cold James?" She emphasised the last bit indicating that as she was calling him by his full name, he should do the same. He coughed pretending he was clearing his throat and returned to his normal voice.  
  
"Em, a bit yea. So shall we go explore then?" Lily shrugged, but got up and followed him to one of the doors and went inside. The first room turned out to be James'. It had wooden panelling up the walls, and a fluffy royal blue carpet on the floor. The four-poster bed had drapes, which matched the carpet, and there were another two doors that led off this room. One turned out to be into a huge build-in wardrobe, the other to the bathroom.  
  
"Nice, I'll leave you to it and go explore my own." Lily was already halfway across the common room before James caught up with her. He ran on and went to open the door for her, but found that the handle wouldn't turn.  
  
"It's locked."  
  
"Let me see." As Lily tried the door the handle turned easily for her and she gave a small smirk. "Well James, it seems your not allowed into my room. I'll catch you tomorrow, ok?" With that she entered the room and shut the door quickly behind her.  
  
James, not wanting to push his luck, decided that the best thing to do was leave her well alone, so he walked out of the Head Quarters and went down into the main common room.  
  
He was greeted by much applause and cheering. Although Lily was a little perturbed at Dumbledore's choice of Head boy, the rest of the Gryffindors thought it was great news. Quidditch Captain and general fun-loving guy, James Potter was a legend to them. Sirius got up off an armchair near the fire, and bowed so lowly his nose almost touched the ground.  
  
"Your majesty, Sir Prongship, Sire." James laughed.  
  
"Your damn right!" he yelled happily at being addressed like this. Sirius grinned as he stood back up, patted James on the back, and led him over to their usual seats where the rest of the Marauders where waiting.  
  
"What are you down here?" Remus inquired, not lifting his gaze from the book on Runes he was studying.  
  
"Well as I was sitting up there on my throne, it dawned on me I should probably come down and mix with you commoners. You know, show that I'm still one with the people." He gave a royal wave round the room, several people laughed, including Sirius and Remus, Peter simply looked on, completely in awe of him.  
  
"Wormtail, he was taking the piss!" Sirius said, looking as though he was fed up with him already. "Strange to see you down here so soon," he continued slyly to James. "Thought you'd have Lily eating out of your hand by now."  
  
"Yea well, she was tired... went on into her room, didn't she? It was a long journey for her today... not surprised really..." he trailed off when he saw Sirius giving him a pitiful look. "Ok then big shot, where's Caitlin?" he shot back furiously. Sirius gave him a look that told him he had obviously hit a nerve. "Ah ha see! Padfoot's not so smooth with the ladies!"  
  
"Well obviously the journey tired her out as well, because she has also retired to her room," he replied, with such a tone in his voice that James knew it was time to stop. He immediately turned his attention to Remus.  
  
"So Moony, do anything over the summer that I could possibly rib you about? Loose your trunks in a swimming pool? Develop a crush on someone you really shouldn't have?"  
  
"What about the fact that twice over the summer I developed into a blood thirsty monster, and also that I have a fear that after I leave school this year I will not be able to find a job, and will be forced to live the rest of my life as an outcast?"  
  
"Your no fun, that's an old one! I asked for something new, so I could try out new material, you know? As your Head boy I want 20 lines for tomorrow. 'I must try harder.'" Lupin idly conjured up a piece of parchment with the lines already written out. James accepted it. "Thank you. Now what about you Wormtail? Do anything stupid?" Peter opened his mouth, about to give James a long list but was interrupted. "On second thoughts, don't answer that."  
  
James looked around the common room bored. His friends weren't being as much fun tonight as he had hoped, and he had been counting on them to take his mind off Lily, so far it wasn't working. Sirius seemed to be lost in thought, obviously still stewing over James' previous comments about the situation with Caitlin. Remus was lost in his book, studying before any classes had even started. If it had been anyone else James would have been asking them to stop, but he knew that Remus needed the best marks possible in school if he was to be taken seriously next year. And Peter, well Peter just seemed to be lost. James got up and headed back up to his room, he heard the others mumble some goodbyes as he left. As he arrived back into the private common room he saw that Lily was still in her room. He headed into his own and prepared to spend his first night in his new bed.  
  
*****  
  
Right as before, any queries just review and I'll try to answer them at the start of the next chapter! Thanks!! 


	5. Secret Still

Ok I've decided I'm going to put my other story on hold until I finish this one, which could take a while. Just thought I'd inform you!  
  
*****  
  
Chapter 5 : Secret Still  
  
Lily woke early the next morning. She had tossed and turned all night. She still couldn't believe that Dumbledore had made that prat Head boy. It had been bad enough she had to spend a brief time with him last year, whilst Caitlin and Sirius were going out, but now she was practically living with him!!  
  
She got dressed and left her room. She was relieved to see that James hadn't surfaced yet. She went to go on down to the main common room, but as she opened the door she found that her way down the spiral staircase was blocked. Caitlin was sitting on the top step, painting her nails and cooing over the lion cub, which was now awake and clearly enjoying the attention.  
  
"He's adorable isn't he?" She purred. "How do you get past him?"  
  
"Really sorry, Cait, but I cant tell you." Caitlin didn't push it any further. She knew what a stickler Lily was about rules. She got up off the step and the two of them walked down the stairs.  
  
"Alright then, but you'll show me around it sometime yea? I missed you in the dorm last night. Just thought I'd come and wait for you so we could go down to breakfast together." Lily smiled at her for a moment, she had missed her too. It wasn't the same going to sleep in the room by herself, she had missed the sounds of the dorm at night. Caitlin spoke in her sleep, usually reliving events with Sirius; Alice Fleming had a cute whimpering snore; Scarlet McFerrin spent most of her time running in and out of the dorm, coming back from her midnight liaisons with her boyfriend, Robbie Brown; whilst Avril Knight woke occasionally to tell the others to quieten down. A moment later another thought came into Lily's mind.  
  
"Why didn't you just wait for me down in the common room? It would have been more comfortable surely?" Caitlin didn't answer her, but she didn't need to. As they reached the bottom of the staircase Lily saw that Sirius and Remus were sitting in their usual seats by the fire. They were talking animatedly, and apparently had not noticed the girls' arrival into the room.  
  
Caitlin at once gave out a loud fake laugh, interlocked her arm with Lily and began to walk casually past them. Lily however, wasn't having any of it.  
  
"Honestly, there's me thinking you wanted to spend some time with me, and all you want me for is to try and make that stupid git jealous!" She tried to sound as stern as possible but Caitlin knew she'd play along with it.  
  
"I know, he is a bit of a stupid git, isn't he?" she said loud enough for Sirius to hear her. Sirius gave no reaction, although Lily was positive he had heard the comment, he continued talking to Remus. Caitlin, slightly annoyed that her first effort had been ignored, tried again. "He's a bit of dog really." She immediately got the reaction she was looking for. Sirius and Remus stopped talking and Sirius shot her a warning look, while Remus stared hard at the floor, he looked like he was about to throw up. Caitlin now completely satisfied that she had broken Sirius' act of pretending she didn't exist, continued on out of the portrait hole, with a mischievous grin on her face.  
  
Lily and she walked in silence until they sat down at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall.  
  
"What was that all about?"  
  
"Oh nothing," replied Caitlin, although Lily could tell she was lying by the grin that was still plastered across her face. Caitlin stuffed a freshly buttered roll into her mouth, and raised her eyebrows cheekily at Lily.  
  
'Yep,' Lily thought. 'There is definitely something I'm not being let in on here.' Though she asked no more questions.  
  
The pair of them continued to eat their breakfast, chatting about nothing in particular and basically just catching up on the gossip. They were rudely interrupted, 15 minutes later, by the arrival of a very scruffy looking boy – about 5ft8, extremely messy hair – into the hall. It was James. He spied them sitting at the table and dashed towards them. As he dropped onto the bench opposite them, Lily noticed that he looked like he was barely out of bed. He beamed at her.  
  
"What are you doing?" she spat at him.  
  
"Sorry I'm late," he replied, his mouth still fixed in a wide grin. Staring back at him in disbelief, Lily could now see that despite his happy appearance, his eyes looked worried and alarmed.  
  
"Late for what?"  
  
"Our date." Lily spluttered. Caitlin looked on, apparently bored with him already.  
  
"What?! What date?"  
  
"The one you set up last night. You said you'd catch me tomorrow. I assumed you were asking me out." Lily could have leapt across the table and strangled him on the spot. Instead she decided to take a different approach.  
  
"James that is clearly not the reason you came over," she said coolly. "What do you want?"  
  
"I came over to talk to Caitlin actually." Lily was a little taken a back by this, but Caitlin didn't seem surprised at all. "So Caitlin..." he began but was cut off.  
  
"Don't worry James, it's a secret still," Caitlin answered his unspoken question. Lily watched as they both exchanged meaningful looks.  
  
"Well then, if that's sorted I'll be off." Lily watched him intently as he slowly walked to where the rest of the Marauders had sat down. What was still a secret? James and Caitlin were sharing secrets now? Sure James and Caitlin had grown up in the same village, and were friends, but they had never really been that close. When James had come over and said he wanted Caitlin, Lily had assumed it was something to do with Quidditch practice, as they were both chasers for the house team. Lily was just about to start questioning Caitlin when she heard James calling her from down the table. She looked round to see him waving at her.  
  
"Evans! Hey Evans, I forgot! Will you go out with me?" Lily ignored him and turned round to talk to Caitlin again. She felt her mood brighten ever so slightly, although she wasn't sure why.  
  
*****  
  
Shmeh, not sure if I liked that. Please read and review! 


	6. Tension and Turmoil

Awh I just got a really nice review. Thank you so much CountessMel! At least I know someone's enjoying it!!  
  
*****  
  
Chapter 6 : Tension and Turmoil  
  
The first few weeks of the new term were rough on James. He couldn't stand watching his friend tear himself apart in front of him. Ever since Caitlin's remark about Sirius being a dog, Remus had become paler and weaker by the minute. He was convinced that any day now Caitlin would spill the beans on his condition, and he would be turned into an outcast.  
  
"Listen Moony, I sorted it, I promise. She won't tell, you'll be fine." They were huddled together in their usual spot in the common room. Sirius had sprawled himself across one of the sofas, he had his eyes closed and appeared to be half asleep. Remus sat across from him in an armchair, his head held in his hands, staring deeply into the fire that roared beside them. James was sitting on the arm of Sirius' sofa, whilst Peter was sitting cross-legged on the floor between them, his back to the fire.  
  
Remus had ignored James' first attempt to console him, so he tried again.  
  
"Look even if she did tell Lily, would it be that bad? Lily knows you, she wouldn't judge you." Remus grunted, he didn't seem to share James' optimism.  
  
"Prongs no offence, but the way things are now, I might as well tie a bell round my neck and hire some guy to walk about in front of me shouting 'Werewolf! Getcha werewolf here!'"  
  
"Nah mate, Prongs is right," Sirius had interjected. "At least Evans LIKES you." This was obviously a jibe at James. Sirius still had his eyes closed when he said it, and so didn't see James' reaction.  
  
"Right it's late, I'm going to bed." With that James hurriedly left them to it, and climbed the stairs to his room. He knew Sirius was only trying to mess him about but his recent remarks had begun to really sting James. After all, it was his stupidity that had got them all into this trouble in the first place, and yet it was James that was left to sort it out. Oh yes, as soon as Caitlin had made her cutting remark Sirius had come bolting up the stairs, and practically punched a hole in the lion cub's portrait trying to wake James up. James had then been forced to go and try sort things out, Sirius hadn't wanted to loose face by having to talk to Caitlin himself. If Sirius would just swallow his pride and go make it up with Caitlin then that would be an end to this whole sorry affair. Unfortunately he was too concerned about loosing his 'Man's man' image, to go and talk to a girl about her feelings, and so the whole situation had only worsened. Caitlin was now so frustrated with him that she had stopped making sly comments to the Marauders, in fact she wasn't talking to them at all. This made Quidditch practice particularly difficult, as Caitlin had stopped yelling to James whilst he had the quaffle, therefore messing up their positioning.  
  
As James walked into the private common room he was surprised to see that Lily was still up. She was busy working at one of the desks, so consumed by her studies she didn't notice him walk in. He stood and watched her for a moment, she looked so cute, with her nose crinkled in concentration as she tried to work out some particularly difficult Arithmancy.  
  
"Lily, it's past one," he whispered. Lily gave a jump of surprise and then looked at her own watch.  
  
"I have to do this for tomorrow, but I – just – don't – understand – it!" She rubbed hard on the parchment with an eraser as she said each word, and then slumped back into her chair defeated. "Oh I give up!"  
  
"Maybe I can help?" James knew he would be useless, he had never studied Arithmancy, but he hated seeing her so annoyed with herself. He walked over and knelt down so he was the same height as her sitting in the chair. He took off his glasses and cleaned them before having a look at the textbook she had open in front of her. "Pfft! You can't figure that out? Honestly that's easy-peasy!" Lily smiled at bit at this.  
  
"Oh really? What does it mean then?"  
  
"Seriously Lily, to me that just looks like a pile of numbers," James admitted. Lily gave a very audible laugh at this.  
  
"Is that the legendary James Potter admitting he doesn't know everything?"  
  
"Uh huh, why don't you explain it?" James mumbled. He wasn't really listening to what she was saying, he was just trying to buy a little time so he could pull himself together again. 'She laughed. I've never made her laugh before.'  
  
Lily stopped midway through her explanation.  
  
"Uh James are you listening? Sorry it's late I shouldn't be boring you with this."  
  
James subconscious suddenly kicked in. 'Shit! The first time we've ever had a normal conversation and she's going to finish it because of your lack of interest! Waken up Prongs!!'  
  
"No no, it's fine, please continue." Lily laughed again and closed the textbook. She turned round to face him.  
  
"Arithmancy's hard to grasp at the best of times, let alone half past 1 in the morning. James is everything all right? You seem a bit subdued." In that moment James had the strongest inclination to tell her everything. Tell her everything on his mind, she would understand wouldn't she? She'd never asked him if everything was all right before. They had spent much more time in each other's presence over the past few weeks, due to the fact James had been hiding out because he didn't want to face the rest of the Marauders. They hadn't exactly hit it off, they spent most of the time working silently at their desks, but James had taken the fact that she could stand to be in the same room as him for hours on end as a good sign; she had even lent him a quill. Was Lily Evans finally warming to him? His hopes were immediately dashed. "It's just strange not to see you being your usual cocky self!" Lily laughed at her own joke. James had not joined in. He stood up slowly, took off his glasses and cleaned them. His purpose for doing this was so he could squint up his eyes, so that Lily couldn't see the hurt in them.  
  
"Lily when you see Caitlin, could you tell her I want a word?"  
  
"Sure." Lily turned to go back to her work. James noticed that she now sat more rigidly in her chair, and seemed to wishing him out of the room. For a moment he thought he had broken through, but he had obviously been mistaken. Lily Evans was as uncomfortable around him now as she ever had been.  
  
He walked morosely to his room, but stopped as he reached his doorway.  
  
'Should I?' he questioned himself.  
  
'She'll be expecting it,' said a voice in his head.  
  
'From your usual cocky self,' said another. He turned round to see that Lily was sitting at the desk perfectly still. 'Here goes it.'  
  
"Evans!" She looked up at him, a small smile creeping across her face. But he couldn't bring himself to do it. "Uh... night!" He quickly turned back and hurried into his room, without looking back.  
  
*****  
  
Ok that was ever so slightly depressing. It'll lighten up next chapter promise!! R&R! 


	7. Say what!

Once again thanks for your reviews, both good and slightly iffy!  
  
*****  
  
Chapter 7 : Say what?!  
  
'Bugger.  
  
'Sorry what? Why bugger? Not bugger! It was only James, therefore not bugger! Sorry it was POTTER, not James! Oh BUGGER!  
  
'What just happened anyway? You just had a normal conversation with that egotistical nitwit! He took a bit of offence at something you said, but so what? It's only Potter! You've been letting your guard down too much over the past few weeks. He's been slowly creeping in, trying to gain your trust, but you know he's only going to hurt you again, made a prat out of you in front of everyone. He needed to be put in his place anyway!  
  
'He's prejudiced that's what it is! He's prejudiced against muggle-borns! And he's just trying to set you up again. He's always drawn attention to you in front of other people, every time you've met in the past 6 years, he's always finished by screaming at you "Evans will you go out with me!" But then why didn't he tonight? He's sensed it hasn't he? He's sensed that the phrase had slowly started to repulse you less and less. He's noticed the way you smile slightly now, every time he says it. He's thinking of a new way to tease you, because he never really meant it anyway, he doesn't really like you does he?  
  
'Maybe he's not teasing you. Maybe he really is trying to get closer to you, but why? Ah, one word, Caitlin. He asked for Caitlin remember? He asked you to speak to Caitlin, tell her he wanted a word. That's what it's about. He's after Caitlin! I mean she is the prettiest girl in the school, why didn't you think of that before? He probably thinks that now Sirius and she have been broken up for over a month she's fair game. And they were sharing secrets, secrets even Caitlin wouldn't tell you. Weird though. Potter's cocky, but you wouldn't expect him to try and score with his best friend's ex-girlfriend.  
  
'Lily now is not the time to start worrying about boys. Especially Potter. You've got an important year ahead of you. Important exams. Just put all this out of your head and knuckle down. 8 more months and you'll be rid of him completely!'  
  
Lily must have sat questioning herself for over twenty minutes. The Arithmancy homework remained unfinished in front of her. She tried to complete it, but soon realised that she needed her red quill, which she had let James borrow. She turned round and gazed at his bedroom door.  
  
'Best not to wake him' she told herself.  
  
'That's not the real reason your not going in is it?' said another voice deeper inside her.  
  
'Fine then I'll go in and ask for it back! It's not as though he needs his beauty sleep is it? – Oh my God did I just think that?!' She knocked tentatively on the door, but received no reply. She pushed it open slightly, and saw the room was in complete darkness. Deciding to give it up as a bad idea, she thought it would be far better just to go and borrow Caitlin's. She didn't mind waking her up.  
  
As she walked down the spiral staircase she was surprised to hear a familiar voice, echoing up towards her.  
  
"Get away from me you ugly mongrel!" Caitlin was trying to sound annoyed, but Lily could make out the amusement in her voice. "And don't make those puppy dog eyes at me!" As Lily reached the bottom of the stairs she could see Caitlin silhouetted against the fireplace. She was sitting on a sofa, her back to Lily. There didn't seem to be anybody else with her.  
  
"Caitlin who are you talking to?" Lily inquired. Caitlin sat bolt up right in her chair, she didn't turn round to face Lily, and her head was tilted as though she was looking into her lap.  
  
"Oh hi Lily!" she said loudly. "What are you doing up so late?" She still didn't turn round.  
  
"I was just coming to ask to borrow your red quill, I need to finish our Arithmancy essay," Lily said walking slowly towards her.  
  
"Oh I was doing that myself. Of course you can borrow my quill, did you loose your own?"  
  
"No I lent it to Potter, I – " She stopped mid-sentence. She had now got close enough to see why Caitlin hadn't turned round. Sirius Black was on all fours on the floor in front of her, his chin resting on her left thigh. Caitlin had her hand cupped behind his right ear, as though she had been scratching it. Sirius was deadly still, and his eyes, wide eyed with shock, stared out in front of him. He seemed to be under the impression that if he didn't move Lily wouldn't notice him. Caitlin turned round to face Lily, still not taking her hand off Sirius' ear.  
  
"You lent him a quill? Are you high?" she said, barely managing to stifle a giggle. She seemed to be the only one in the room who found the situation highly amusing.  
  
"Uh yea – I mean yes, I lent him a quill, no I am not high, and Sirius I can see you by the way!" She thought it useless to go on pretending. "What are you doing?!" Sirius didn't move, he seemed too busy searching for an explanation.  
  
"Uh would you believe me if I told you I was an hallucination? Due to the fact you were high?" he offered lamely. Both Lily and Caitlin gave him pitiful looks. Caitlin tried again on his behalf.  
  
"He wants to go out with me again. I told him to get on his knees and beg." She spoke as if Sirius wasn't in the room. He got up, threw a scornful sideward glance at her and turned his attention to Lily.  
  
"James has got his own red quill you know Evans." He had achieved his intention. Lily's mind was taken off was she had just seen, it was now racing with thoughts of what jinxes James was currently putting on her quill. How could she have been so stupid?!  
  
"Yes well I'll get mine back from him in the morning. So if I could just borrow yours until then?" Caitlin quickly handed her a quill. "Thanks. Good night."  
  
"Good night Evans." Sirius was now also trying to stop himself from laughing. As Lily reached the stairs she heard Caitlin burst into giggles. Sirius gave a laugh like a bark. Annoyed that she had let Sirius get the last laugh, she remembered something.  
  
"Oh Cait, Potter said he wanted a word – in private," she added for effect.  
  
"Oh right sure," Caitlin replied, composing herself slightly. Sirius seemed to be highly put out. Satisfied, Lily walked back to her homework. It was a low blow, but it was worth it just to see the smile wiped from Black's face!  
  
***** Verdict please. Good or bad? And does anybody have any suggestions to make it better? 


	8. Sirius’ Indiscretion

Ok now I was never one to be picky but you leave me no choice. James was a chaser not a seeker. JK Rowling has said this before in interviews (See the Harry Potter Lexicon for more details.) I'm not being cheeky I just thought you should know.  
  
Also, this is probably going to be my last chapter for a while. Back to school tomorrow. I did manage to get 8 chapters up in three days though, which is pretty good going I think. I hope to get another done by the end of the week. In the meantime enjoy and keep reviewing!  
  
*****  
  
Chapter 8 : Sirius' Indiscretion  
  
When James arrived down to the Great Hall for breakfast the next day, he found that the rest of the Marauders where already there, happily eating their breakfasts. Remus was chuckling at whatever joke or story Sirius was telling him, the colour had returned to his cheeks and he was looking healthier. Peter seemed enthralled by Sirius' anecdote, he was gasping and laughing in all the right places. Even Sirius was laughing at himself.  
  
"What you all so cheerful about?" he asked as walked nearer to them.  
  
"Oh Caitlin and I, we're back together," Sirius replied casually, pointing down the table to where Caitlin and Lily where talking animatedly.  
  
"Oh thank God! Panic over!" said James, slumping down on the bench beside him with relief. "How did that happen?"  
  
"Asked her last night. She said yes of course. Couldn't resist that old Black charm." James and he high-fived.  
  
"Yea and now tell him what really happened Padfoot," said Remus slyly.  
  
"Why what happened?" Sirius began to recount the previous night's events.  
  
"Well I decided Caitlin would be more open to me if I approached her as a dog."  
  
"Of course, yes," James concurred.  
  
"So there I was, big, furry, black head in her lap, trying to look depressed, whimpering a little for effect..."  
  
"Naturally."  
  
"Well anyway, suddenly we weren't alone anymore... Evans walked in." James jumped up out of his seat.  
  
"She knows?! Lily knows?!" He was yelling so loudly that several people had started to look in his direction. Sirius grabbed him back down again.  
  
"Yes Prongs, Evans knows you're a stupid berk!" The people that had stared at him laughed, and turned back to their own conversations. "Would you let me finish?" James nodded mutely. "Anyway Evans walked in – BUT – she didn't see me I was hidden by the couch." James breathed an audible sigh of relief. "What she did see however, was me in human form, on all fours with Caitlin scratching me behind the ear. She probably thinks I have some kind of fetish or something..." He tried to finish but James had already jumped out of his seat again. This time it was in pure delight.  
  
"You...! You...!" he spluttered but he couldn't find the words. "Ahhhhhhhhhhh!" he laughed, while pointing at Sirius. Peter jumped up and joined in. More people from the Gryffindor table did the same. Some people banged the table with their fists, others stamped their feet off the floor. Soon most of the hall had joined in the fun, even the Slytherins.  
  
"Honestly!" Remus tried to yell over the now deafening roar. "They don't even know what they're cheering for!" He was one of the few that had chosen not to join in, but he couldn't help but laugh. Sirius got up and ran from the hall. The pointing all following him, he pointed his wand at his head and conjured a paper bag over it. As he disappeared from sight, the noise died away and James heard someone whisper in his ear.  
  
"He told you then?" He spun round to see Caitlin grinning at him. Lily was standing a few steps behind her, with a face like thunder. "Listen what did you want to talk to me about?"  
  
"Oh it doesn't matter now." He eyed Lily and Caitlin caught his drift.  
  
"Well I think I better go check on Snuffles then," Caitlin giggled, and she walked briskly out of the hall. Lily rounded on James.  
  
"Potter I want my quill back," she said curtly.  
  
"Uh oh Moony, Wormtail, she's calling me Potter." Peter laughed, whilst Remus frowned slightly at him. "Do you need it Evans?" 'Ha,' he thought. 'Two can play at that game!'  
  
"No Potter I don't need it, I would just like it back. You clearly don't need it."  
  
"What makes you so sure? I might need to underline things with it."  
  
"I know that you don't need it Potter, because I know that you have your own!"  
  
'Uh oh, busted.' "Uh well you see... the thing about that is... that..."  
  
Lily was in no mood for his excuses.  
  
"Just give it to me!"  
  
"You want me to give it to you Evans?" James raised an eyebrow suggestively at her.  
  
"The quill," she replied slowly.  
  
"Oh here you go." He rummaged through his bag and handed her the quill.  
  
"Thank you." She reached for the quill, eyeing it suspiciously for a moment.  
  
"What? What now? I haven't jinxed it if that's what you think!" He was starting to get a bit fed up with her now. After getting on well for the past few weeks why was she now being so cold?  
  
"Potter that's exactly what I'm thinking," she said coolly.  
  
"Fine! You know, your right! I've jinxed it so it now knows how to write 'I love James Potter' in five different languages." Lily seemed incensed at this remark, and stormed off down the hall. "J'adore James Potter" He yelled after her to enrage her more. "Amo James Potter - Ich liebe James Potter!"  
  
"Aren't you forgetting something?" Remus asked him once he had sat back down at the table.  
  
"Oh yea. Evans will you go out with me?" he yelled half-heartedly after her. Remus looked at him totally bewildered.  
  
"I thought you two were getting on?"  
  
"Yea so did I."  
  
"Don't worry Prongs she'll come round," said Peter. James and Remus both looked at him in shock. Usually he didn't speak unless he was agreeing with someone else's statement. James reckoned he was probably trying to assert himself while Sirius wasn't around. They had never really got on.  
  
"Right well shall we go on to class?" asked James, desperately trying to change the subject. Getting to class on time wasn't one of his usual worries. "What do we have first?"  
  
"Care of Magical Creatures with the Ravenclaws," replied Remus.  
  
"Well I have Herbology with the Hufflepuffs, so I'll catch you guys later," Peter informed them. James and Remus watched him waddled out of the hall.  
  
"Strange man, that one," James said. "Very strange."  
  
*****  
  
Ok that's it so far, I'll try and update it as soon as possible! 


	9. Ich liebe James Potter

Right I have my AS-Levels coming up in a few weeks - important exams, for those of you who aren't British – so I'm probably not going to be able to update as often as I'd like, although I probably will as I love writing this story and it takes away my stress. If you're liking it too please review, if your hating it tell me why!  
  
***** Chapter 9 : Ich liebe James Potter  
  
"Ich liebe James Potter!" Lily said out loud, she was seething.  
  
"Lil would you give that a rest?" spoke Caitlin calmly, ever the voice of reason. "It's been a month."  
  
It was coming up to Halloween, and the first Hogsmeade weekend of the school year. Lily was sitting doing a Defence Against the Dark Arts homework in the main Gryffindor common room. Across from her sat Caitlin and Scarlet McFerrin, doing a joint Divination project.  
  
"I know it's been a month but I still haven't gotten my own back yet!"  
  
"Lil! He didn't jinx the quill. We checked it! Numerous times! I even asked him about it and he said no."  
  
"In just one of your numerous 'chats'. I wonder – does Sirius know about those?"  
  
"What?! – Oh don't even try and take this out on me. You're just annoyed because you couldn't report him for anything! You can't stand the fact that he's actually turned out to be an excellent Head Boy!"  
  
"I can't stand the fact that he humiliated me in front of the whole school and got away with it!" Caitlin chose to ignore her and turned her attention back to Scarlet and their project.  
  
"What a rough assignment! 'We'll meet again.' You and your partner must chart important events in your lives, and highlight those in which you will both be affected."  
  
"I should have reported him for that alone, even if he didn't jinx the quill!" Lily was determined to continue the conversation, her homework lay forgotten on her lap. "I only didn't because I didn't want to relive it!"  
  
"Do you think we could have a big fight now? And convince Professor Tyrer our lives will never cross paths again?" Caitlin said to Scarlet. She was just as determined as Lily, to steer the conversation in her own way.  
  
"And what do you mean he's an excellent Head Boy?! He's only good because he's popular and he lets them get away with their stupid pranks and jokes!" Lily ranted loudly.  
  
"Scarlet could you pass me that text book?" said Caitlin louder still.  
  
"If I wasn't here to control it, and he were left to his own devices, he'd be letting them murder each other in the hallways!"  
  
"RIGHT!" Lily had won, Caitlin had responded. The look on Caitlin's face however, made her feel much less than triumphant. "Scarlet would you mind if we finished this another time, Lily and I need to have a small chat." Scarlet nodded mutely. She looked relieved to have an excuse to get away from their continuous argument. Lily then found herself being spun round on the spot, and then felt Caitlin's index finger in the small of her back. "Move!" she whispered in her ear, and with that she felt herself being marched towards her own room.  
  
They marched in silence until they reached the lion cub portrait. "Open it." Caitlin ordered. Lily not wanting to make Caitlin's mood any worse, didn't argue. She tapped the cub three times on the nose and said 'emotions', Caitlin watching over her shoulder the whole time. Once it was open Caitlin hesitated for a moment, she hadn't been in here before and didn't know which one was Lily's room.  
  
"In here," Lily said quietly, as she led the way into her room. Caitlin did not permit her to talk again.  
  
"Right first of all Lily – James would NEVER let anyone murder anyone! You hear me? NEVER! How can you joke about that now? When are living in such a horrific time?" She took a breath. Lily seized the moment to apologise.  
  
"Caitlin, I'm sorry, I didn't mean..." Lily had just realised the impact her passing remark had made on Caitlin. Although her muggle background shielded her, she couldn't help but notice that Lord Voldemort's power was rising. She had been introduced to the fear he struck into witches and wizards from the very first moment she had arrived in Hogwarts – Caitlin had explained it on the train. It had been the reason that she had picked Defence Against the Dark Arts for one of her N.E.W.T subjects – one of only two girls in her house to do so. She wanted to be a Healer, and didn't really need it for that, but kept it on as a safety measure.  
  
Caitlin noticed the tears that where now beginning to stream down Lily's face. She still hadn't made her second point, but she had already softened.  
  
"Come here pet." She opened her arms to Lily, and they sat down on the bed. "I shouldn't have shouted at you. I know your having your own problems at the moment. I just get so – it doesn't matter... Why are you crying? Anyone would think it was you that had to go with one of the Marauders!" Lily laughed at her joke, and wiped her eyes.  
  
"What else were you going to say?"  
  
"Hmm?"  
  
"You said 'first of all'. What was second?"  
  
"Oh right. Well Lily you know you weren't really upset because you thought he jinxed the quill." Her voice soothing and calm.  
  
"Yes I was. That's why I asked for it back." She was trying to echo Caitlin's voice, but her irritation was showing through again.  
  
"Lily you only got upset when Sirius mentioned HE had his own quill because you'd realised you'd done something stupid."  
  
"I know. I realised I'd given him an easy target." Caitlin smiled annoyingly at her, giving her the impression that she knew something Lily didn't.  
  
"No you didn't. You realised you'd been flirting with HIM."  
  
"I HAVE NOT BEEN - !" Lily roared, but stopped when she saw the annoying 'I told you so look' on Caitlin's face. She changed tact. "I have not been flirting with him," she said casually. Still the look remained on Caitlin's face.  
  
"You have been flirting with HIM. And the only reason you're able to keep calm at the moment is because I haven't mentioned HIS name yet. If I do I know you'll flip out."  
  
"That's so not true."  
  
"Yes it is. You can't bear to hear it because you know what it does to you."  
  
"The only reason I react, ever-so-slightly, is because I despise him."  
  
"You despise Sirius too, and you don't react to his name like that."  
  
"That's because you're going out with him! I don't want to hurt you!" The conversation was starting to get more heated. The calm voices gradually slipping.  
  
"You've never reacted to Sirius' name like that! And the only reason the confrontation in the Great Hall annoyed you so much is because something HE said struck a nerve with you!"  
  
"And what would that be?!" They were standing now, and shouting back and forth, although it wasn't like their previous argument, the laughter in Caitlin's voice was clearly audible.  
  
"'ICH LIEBE JAMES POTTER'!" Caitlin roared. "And it's true Lily you do! You love James Potter!"  
  
Lily stood aghast for a moment.  
  
"That's – that's not true," she spluttered eventually.  
  
"Honey, I've been your best friend since our first day here, and I can read you like a book. You like him! Your cheeks glow every time he asks you out now."  
  
"Caitlin I don't know what your on but I do not like James Potter – there I said his name, and look NO REACTION!"  
  
"Your hand's shaking," Caitlin whispered pointing at Lily's right hand. Lily tried to steady it but failed miserably.  
  
"Look I don't like him. I know, ok? I practically live with him and we don't get on!"  
  
"Yes but you don't actually spend any time together do you? You're always locked away in your rooms. You're afraid if you spend time with him you'll let yourself slip again!"  
  
"I am not afraid! And what do you mean again?"  
  
"The quill incident. Anyway if you're not afraid then prove it! Come for a drink with me and the Marauders in the Three Broomsticks this weekend." Lily didn't have time to think about this proposition properly before she answered.  
  
"Fine!" she shot at Caitlin.  
  
"Fine!" Caitlin shot back, a huge smile creeping across her face.  
  
"I think you better go, I need to do some work!" She pushed the beaming Caitlin out of her room, and yelled "Accio homework". The work she had left down in the common room came zooming up to her. Finally once she had seen Caitlin out of the door she slammed it behind her, and slid down it.  
  
"Oh BUGGER!" she said out loud.  
  
*****  
  
That chapter kind of ran away with me I'm not sure if I liked it. I prefer writing for James. I don't know when I'll update again, but I just like to thank you for your lovely reviews – they keep me writing this. Special thanks to Oliverwoodschic, luvsirius and CountessMel and everyone else who has been reviewing!! 


	10. Hogsmeade

I know it's been a while but I've been revising. To make up for it this is a really loooooooooong chapter. Enjoy!  
  
*****  
  
Chapter 10 : Hogsmeade  
  
James had been woken up from a well-deserved nap, but he wasn't sure what by. It was only just after 9 in the evening, but he had collapsed on his bed after a hard Quidditch practice, and gone to sleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.  
  
Now that he had woken up a bit he could make out doors slamming outside, followed by loud voices coming from Lily's room.  
  
'Oh great, who's hexed her now?' James had got used to clearing things up with pupils who had taken revenge, when Lily had punished them too severely. She hadn't quite found the balance yet, between fulfilling her duties and not turning into a control freak. James didn't judge her too much for this, he knew exactly where she was coming from. The only reason he knew how to handle things, because as a reformed troublemaker himself he knew what could be tolerated, and what was just down right mean. He lay awake in bed for a few moments deciding what he should do. He still hadn't really forgiven her for accusing him of jinxing her quill, on the other hand he didn't really want her to be slaughtered by the rest of the school – especially the third years, they would hex you before you could say 'Tweenager Rebellion'.  
  
He stretched, but found his weary muscles had seized up, and he let out a groan of pain. He reached out and found his glasses lying on the bedside table, as he put them on his dark room came into focus. Suddenly he heard another yell come from Lily's room, but this time he was sure he'd heard his own name mentioned. He quickly jumped up and threw a scarlet dressing gown on, to cover up the boxers he had on – he'd been too tired to put pyjamas on.  
  
As he opened the door to the mini-common room he found that there was already someone there. He couldn't quite make out who it was, as his eyes hadn't adjusted to the light yet.  
  
"Lily, what's the matter? What's the racket?"  
  
"Jamie, have you come to seduce me?" It was not Lily but Caitlin that answered.  
  
"What?!" Now his eyes had focused he could make out Caitlin looking him up and down in his dressing gown. "Oh! No, I was asleep, just threw this on so I could come out and see what was going on."  
  
"A likely story," Caitlin said, giving him a suggestive look. He suddenly felt very exposed.  
  
"Anyway what's going on? How'd you get in here anyway?" he said quickly. Caitlin laughed at his feeble attempt at changing the subject.  
  
"Lily and I were having an exchange of ideas."  
  
"Ah!" James said, completely understanding. Girls don't row, they exchange ideas, and they certainly don't fall out, they just 'drift apart'.  
  
"What are you doing in bed at this hour anyway? I thought you'd be out pandering to your adoring fans?"  
  
"I know, I know," he laughed, leaning against his doorframe. Caitlin was leaning on the back of one of the armchairs. "Quidditch practice kind of wrecked me."  
  
"Honestly boy, you've no stamina!"  
  
"Yea? Well maybe I just put more effort into it than you!" Caitlin laughed, that was probably true. Quidditch was the only thing James had ever taken seriously in his life. He wanted to do it professionally, it ran in his family, an ancestor of his had even invented the Golden Snitch, which is where the family wealth came from. "What ideas where you and Lily exchanging then?"  
  
"Nothing that concerns you. Although she did agree to come for a drink with me and you lot on Saturday."  
  
"Wow," said James sarcastically. "That'll be a bundle of laughs."  
  
"Yep!" Caitlin replied cheeringly. "See ya around!" she yelled as she skipped down the steps back to the common room.  
  
*****  
  
It was Halloween and James had just sat down with Sirius, Remus and Peter in the Three Broomsticks. They sat and watched all the younger pupils, laden with their bags full of newly purchased goodies, walk by them. James had grown bored of the sweets from Honeydukes, and he could now make much more interesting jokes and tricks himself, than Zonko's had to offer him. This meant that apart from a couple of new quills Remus had bought, the Marauders were empty handed.  
  
Sirius looked hungrily at a third year's bag from Zonko's, and gave a loud sigh.  
  
"Suppose I may get the drinks in?" he offered. "What do you want?" he directed towards James and Lupin.  
  
"Usual" James replied. Remus shook his head indicating he didn't want anything. Sirius headed off towards the bar.  
  
"I'll have a butterbeer!" Peter yelled desperately after him. The three boys sat in silence until Sirius returned with only two drinks in his hands, for himself and James. Peter looked huffily at him and then asked the exact question James was wondering. "What are we doing in today anyway? We haven't bought anything and we can come into Hogsmeade anytime?!"  
  
"We are here Wormtail," replied Sirius, looking at him reproachfully and sounding uncannily like McGonagall. "Because I promised Caitlin that we would meet Lily and her here for a few drinks, and a casual chat."  
  
"Oh damn!" burst James. "I forgot about that! Caitlin told me about it that night in my room," he remembered out loud.  
  
"When was Caitlin in your room?" Sirius shot at him. James noticed that even Remus was looking at him in amazement.  
  
"Well not in my room. In the private common room, she'd just come out of Lily's room, you know what I mean." Sirius seemed to grudgingly accept his explanation. James decided to quickly change the subject. "Anyway if that's all we're doing today I think I'll head on." With that he rose out of his seat and went to put on his denim jacket.  
  
"Sit down." Again came Sirius' McGonagall like voice, only this time James could hear the humour in it. "This meeting was set up for you, so you're damn well going to attend it."  
  
"What meeting? What you mean attend it? Padfoot no more butterbeer for you!"  
  
"Caitlin and I devised this as a way of getting you and Lily together, so you could let her get to know the real you. You know the 'friendly' you, the 'sensible' you, the 'I've had seven butterbeers so now I'm going to try to mate with your leg' you."  
  
"What about the 'No I didn't perform that hex, I've never even seen that dog before officer' you?" Remus added.  
  
"Ah my personal favourite," Sirius agreed.  
  
"Look there's no point in this! I see Lily everyday, I practically live with her! We don't get on, there's no point in trying to make us spend anymore time together, all right? AND IT WASN'T MY DOG!"  
  
"Wait, wait, wait," said Sirius in mock surprise. "Do my ears deceive me, or is the great James Potter turning down a chance to get up close and personal with the luscious Lily Evans?" James tried to speak but was interrupted. "Quick Prongs," Sirius whispered to him. "Ruffle your hair."  
  
James' turned round to see what had changed Sirius' mood so quickly. Lily and Caitlin had just entered the bar. James' heart skipped a beat as he took in Lily's appearance. She was wearing a pair of tight jeans, which flared at the bottom, covering a pair of dark brown, leather platform boots. She wore a knee-length, light brown, sheep skin jacket, and a purple polo neck underneath. Her auburn hair was down, beautifully cascading over her shoulders, and although she wore no makeup, the autumn wind had given her cheeks a healthy glow. In other words, she was beautiful.  
  
"Wow," James breathed.  
  
"Don't want to spend time with her my arse," Sirius whispered in his ear, as he put his hand on his shoulder to push him back into his seat.  
  
After the girls sat down and Sirius got them a drink, the 'casual conversation' began. It went from topics such as subjects they were all studying, to school gossip, and even to the girls' purchases (new dress robes from Gladrags Wizardwear for Caitlin; a box of Liquorice Wands from Honeydukes for Lily to send to her mother). James didn't speak that much at all though. He was too busy trying to keep his cool. He'd never seen Lily like this before. He knew he'd liked her from the moment he saw her, sure he thought she was pretty, but he'd never really seen her out of her school robes, or without a book in her hand. Her hair was usually tied back in a loose bun, and was usually wavier. And her hands were usually marked with inkblots, but today her nails were beautifully shaped and painted a faint pink. And now he came to think about it, was that healthy glow really from the wind? Was in fact Lily Evans wearing makeup? She didn't usually.  
  
'It's funny how you notice the small things' James thought to himself. 'She is just so...'  
  
"...wow." James inadvertently said the last bit out loud. The conversation between the other five stopped immediately.  
  
"What?" said Lily, bemused.  
  
'God of all the people to speak first, it would have to be her.' James had to do some quick thinking.  
  
"I said 'Ow'. Padfoot is hexing me under the table." He gave Sirius a glare and Sirius quickly removed his wand hand from Caitlin's hand, and pretended that he'd been jinxing James the whole time.  
  
"Uh right..." he said awkwardly, as he glared back at James in disbelief.  
  
"So anyway Quidditch!" James clapped his hands together as he tried to move the conversation on quickly.  
  
"James we were talking about Lily learning to drive," said Caitlin.  
  
"Babe, the guy's head boy. Let him talk about whatever he wants to!" said Sirius as he removed his wand hand from under the table again, and put his arm around Caitlin.  
  
"So what? Lily's head girl. Maybe she doesn't want to talk about Quidditch?" Caitlin didn't like Sirius talking to her like she was one of the bumbling idiots that worshiped him, i.e. Peter.  
  
"Oh right..." James trailed off. He didn't suppose Lily would want to talk about Quidditch. He knew she'd come from a muggle background, but he'd never really spoken to her about it. He didn't really know if she followed Quidditch or not.  
  
"No, no it's alright. I don't mind." Was it just James or had Lily seemed to have brightened up slightly? She twisted round in her seat to face James. He wasn't sure if this was because she wanted to direct the conversation towards him, or because she wanted to put her back to Sirius and Caitlin who were now whispering sweet nothings in each other's ears. James thought it was probably the latter. "So Head Boy and Quidditch captain? That's quite an achievement James." James looked around the table for a bit of support, he wasn't sure he liked Lily cornering him like this. Remus sat grinning at him, eager to see what he would do next, Peter was just looking eager as always – both of them completely useless. His usual saviour in such situations was – ahem – occupied. Sirius and Caitlin were obviously making up for lost time when they had been broken up, and were now snogging the face off each other right there at the table.  
  
Unable to catch Sirius' eye James was forced to answer.  
  
"Um yea... Head Boy was a bit of a surprise but I always expected Quidditch Captain. I've been in the team for 6 years." Lily rolled her eyes slightly, and James noticed Remus shaking his head at him over her shoulder. He at once caught his drift. "Oh but so has Caitlin," James added quickly, trying to take away the cockiness of his first statement.  
  
Caitlin, hearing her name, broke away from her embrace with Sirius.  
  
"What? What you saying about me?"  
  
"That we were wondering how we were going to explain to Madam Pomfrey, when we brought the two of you in stuck together," said Remus coolly. Caitlin, for the first time, looked slightly embarrassed at her behaviour, Sirius however wiped his mouth with his hand, and cheekily shrugged his shoulders at them all. Caitlin sat forward in her seat, seemingly eager to rejoin the conversation, whilst Sirius remained leaning back in his, with his arm still resting on the back of her chair.  
  
"What were you really saying James?" said Caitlin suddenly business-like.  
  
"Oh I was just telling Lily about Quidditch team. She said it was an achievement for me to be Captain." He grinned at her, she had been the only other one in the running for Captain and he knew it still annoyed her that he'd got it.  
  
"Well Lily, if you'd ever seen James play, you'd understand why he got Captain over certain other members of the team." She grinned back; she'd obviously learnt to live with it.  
  
"What?! You've never seen me play?" Again he realised his cockiness was showing. "I mean, you've never been to a house cup game?" Lily looked a little flustered, and was throwing very annoyed glances at Caitlin.  
  
"No dear Lils here, thinks it barbaric." Lily looked even more annoyed with her best friend.  
  
"I don't." Caitlin looked at Lily amazed. "I mean... well... I just prefer to study when the common room's empty, and so Quidditch matches are the perfect time..." She didn't finish her excuse. It was probably best; James didn't think anyone at the table believed her anyway. "Ok look, I'm rubbish at it. The first time..."  
  
"And last," interjected Caitlin.  
  
"Yes AND LAST time I was on a broom was a disaster, so I've avoided Quidditch ever since."  
  
"Is that all?" James asked.  
  
"Yes, isn't it stupid? She won't even come to Ballycastle Bats matches with me!" Caitlin moaned.  
  
"Lily, just 'cause you can't play Quidditch doesn't mean you should have a phobia of it. You're not the only who's not talented on a broom." James and Caitlin both turned to face Sirius.  
  
"What?!" he yelled defensively.  
  
"Yes what?" asked Lily innocently.  
  
"Oh nothing," managed James, trying to fight back the laughter. "It's just that Padfoot tried out for the team once."  
  
"Or twice," said Caitlin, fighting the same losing battle as James.  
  
"A year."  
  
"For 5 years." James and Caitlin couldn't hold it in anymore, and the pair of them fell about the place laughing.  
  
"Look it wasn't that bad," said Sirius, now sitting up straight in his chair.  
  
"No, no, it wasn't you were bad Padfoot," James said honestly.  
  
"It's that you were diabolical," Caitlin said, and the pair started back into their fit of giggles.  
  
Lily seeing the rage filling up in Sirius tried quickly to calm the other two.  
  
"Um, uh, what position did he try out for?" Caitlin squeaked as answer to her, James and her were now laughing so hard they could barely breath.  
  
"She said 'beater'," Remus offered helpfully.  
  
"I'm going to the bar," said Sirius darkly. The force at which he launched himself out of his chair seemed to knock Caitlin into some sense, and she immediately stopped laughing and followed him.  
  
James realised no one was laughing with him anymore and started to compose himself. He caught the stern look on Lily's face.  
  
"What?" he said, drying the tears from his eyes. "Oh he'll be fine, we do it all the time," he offered by way of an apology. "But seriously Lily, you should come to one of the matches, you'd enjoy it. House spirit and all that."  
  
"GO GRYFFINDOR!" Peter yelled, Remus slapped him on the back of the head.  
  
"Well I'll see." Lily was now being colder; James was beginning to wish he hadn't just made such a spectacle of himself.  
  
Just at the moment Sirius and Caitlin returned. Caitlin seemed to have calmed him down, and they were both lifting their coats from the back of their chairs.  
  
"We're going to head on to Madam Puddifoot's," Caitlin explained to Lily, who was beginning to look a bit desperate at the thought of her leaving her. James exchanged looks with Remus and Peter and then all three looked at Sirius, they all managed to stifle a laugh. "Come on then," Caitlin beckoned to Sirius, and she started towards the door, but Sirius remained at the table.  
  
"Madam Puddifoots's my arse," he whispered quickly to the boys. "We're going back to the castle. I'll see you two LATER, ok?" he said to Peter and Remus. "Like AFTER the feast?" Peter and Remus nodded in agreement. James noticed that Lily had become very interested in her newly painted nails, and was pretending not to listen.  
  
"Would you hurry up?" Caitlin yelled, she was now waiting beside the door. "Honestly do I have to keep you on a leash?" Sirius gave James a wink, and then hurried off towards her.  
  
After they had left Lily was he first one to break the awkward silence that had fallen between the group.  
  
"I suppose I may head on and see if I can find Alice and Scarlet to go to the feast with tonight then? I'll see you all around." The boys all murmured goodbyes and she got up and left the table.  
  
"Say something to her," Remus hissed at James when she was just out of earshot.  
  
"Uh Lily," James shouted after her, he didn't really know what to say. "When you see Scarlet will you ask Robbie to send his little sister to me?" Lily looked at him startled. "I mean, I need to see her about Quidditch practice." Lily nodded mutely and left.  
  
"I didn't mean that!" Remus cried in despair when she had gone.  
  
"Will you go out with me?" James groaned as he slapped his own forehead.  
  
"Honestly Prongs, your really starting to slip up around that girl. If I didn't know better I'd think you were getting serious about her."  
  
"What?! Moony no! Its just Evans. Just a bit of fun, a bit of banter, nothing serious. Just the same as always. I'm not into her at all."  
  
"Uh huh." Remus always had an air about him that he knew everything about the others Marauders, even what they were thinking. He was more of a spectator, rather than a participant in life. Because of this he always knew how to handle each one of them expertly. Anyone else would have pushed the current conversation, but Remus knew instinctively when to stop. He tactfully changed the subject, for which James was grateful. "So seeing Peter and I can't go back to the dorm room yet, do you just want to go on to the feast?"  
  
"That'll do."  
  
The three of them stood up together to leave, but as James turned round to head towards the door he stopped in his tracks. Lily had not left after all. She was standing talking to Avril Knight – at the very next table.  
  
*****  
  
Ok so there you go. That took so long to write. Please review! I'll update ASAP I promise! 


	11. Quidditch

Lol I just got 6 reviews after one day so I thought I'd update it a bit sooner. Also, to save any more arguments, some people think James is a seeker; I think he's a chaser, so for my story he's going to be a chaser.  
  
Thanks for all your reviews! I hope your enjoying reading it as much as I am writing it.  
  
Oh and I'd also like to thank my mate Leanne for giving out my real name on the Internet! Ta Lea! :p

-  
  
Chapter 11 : Quidditch  
  
Somehow Lily managed to get through the rest of her conversation with Avril, who was asking her for help with a muggle studies project. Somehow she managed to say goodbye to Avril and walk back to the castle alone. Somehow she managed to sit through the Halloween feast, all the time trying to keep James and the Marauders out of her line of vision. Somehow she managed to make her excuses and leave the feast early. Somehow she managed to survive a run in with Severus Snape – 'Why so miserable Mudblood?' – and get back to the Gryffindor Tower. Even more miraculously, she somehow managed to do all this with her eyes dry.  
  
Once she reached the common room, Lily didn't go up to her own room. There was only one person in the world she wanted to talk to at the moment, and she knew exactly where she could find her. However, instead of bursting straight into the 7th Year Boys' dormitory, Lily decided to go and wait for Caitlin in the girls' dorm. She walked into the familiar room and slumped down on her old bed.  
  
Memories came flooding back to her. This room held her childhood, and she at once saw misty figures of herself and Caitlin as youngsters prancing about the room. Caitlin was in the corner putting copious amounts of makeup on, whilst staring at a tiny mirror on her bedside table. Lily was sitting in the middle of the room on the floor looking through a textbook on potions, whilst eating Honeydukes Fudge. They must have been about 12 or 13.  
  
The tears started to flow down Lily's face as she watched Caitlin trying to distract the younger her, by loudly singing Dancing Queen by ABBA into her hairbrush. Everything had been so much simpler in her life then. She hadn't had any major exams to worry about. She didn't have the pressure of being Head Girl on her shoulders. Voldemort hadn't been such a large factor in her life. Her mum hadn't been so... unwell. And boys had never even come into the equation, well not on her part anyway, Caitlin had been another story altogether.  
  
"God I was such a wally, wasn't I?" Caitlin had entered the room, and Lily hadn't even noticed. She quickly tried to dry her eyes and sat up on the edge of the bed.  
  
"Do you ever wish you could go back in time?" Lily asked her. Caitlin came and sat down on the bed beside her, and put her arm round her.  
  
"Nope." Lily was a little taken back by her answer. "You've only got one life to live, so you might as well live it," she explained gently. "There's things everybody would like to change Lily, but if your past wasn't your past you wouldn't be the person you are today. And I love who you are today." As Caitlin finished, Lily stopped her self-projection spell and the two figures faded. Lily broke down again, and Caitlin hugged her tighter. "What's the matter pet? Is it your mum?"  
  
"Ich liebe James Potter," Lily sobbed loudly into her hands.  
  
"Awwwh Honey! Is that all? That's hardly the end of the world is it?"  
  
"Yes it is," Lily sobbed harder.  
  
"Look I know you're probably annoyed about me being right again, but it's not worth this fuss it is?" Caitlin was now looking slightly alarmed at the state Lily was in.  
  
"He doesn't like me back." Now that Lily had finally said it, she felt a weight lifting from her. It's true that it always feels better after you've talked about it. She felt able to talk a bit easier and she could look Caitlin in the eye again.  
  
"Bullshit," Caitlin put simply. "Where'd did you get that idea?"  
  
"I heard him say it. He said he 'wasn't into me at all.'" Caitlin was furious.  
  
"HE TOLD YOU WHAT?!" Lily was a little scared, she'd seen Caitlin lose her temper many times before and it wasn't pretty.  
  
"Well no he didn't tell me. I overheard him talking to Remus."  
  
"Remus?" She paused for a moment. "Are you sure you heard him right?" Lily nodded. Countless thoughts seemed to be running across Caitlin's mind. Lily would have given anything to know what they were. All she wanted was for Caitlin to give her some hope. "Well Lily he's lying, I've a feeling I know why as well. Don't worry about it. All we need now is a plan," she finished with a wicked glint in her eye.  
  
As if prompted by Caitlin the rest of the Gryffindor girls chose that exact moment to burst into the dorm. Although Lily was definitely closest to Caitlin, the other three girls were very dear to her. Avril, Scarlet and Alice saw Lily distressed and came running over to her immediately. They all kneeled down on the floor in front of her and at once began fussing and cooing over her. Caitlin eventually brought organisation to their chaos.  
  
"Girls, we have a mission," she announced formally. "Lils is in love." The girls all immediately did that high pitched, 'only dogs can hear you now', squeal that only girls can do.  
  
"Seriously Lily-kins? You're in love with somebody? A boy?" Scarlet started berating her with questions. She was the slightly ditzy one, and loved to be in love, which at the moment was with her boyfriend Robbie Brown. She was very petite, at only 5ft, and had long dark brown curly hair, which bounced about on top of her head, suiting her bubbly personality perfectly.  
  
"Scarlet of course it's with a boy!" Alice shushed her. Alice had been going out with her boyfriend Frank Longbottom for 4 years now, and so had become the relationship expert of the dorm. Alice was about the same height as Lily, and had long, straight, mousy-brown hair, which she always wore in a high ponytail. "Who is it Lils?" Lily was beginning to enjoy being the centre of the girls' attention for once. She'd never been interested in anyone before and so had never received the full girly treatment; she was usually the one dishing it out.  
  
"J-J-James P-Po-tter," she stuttered. At once Alice and Scarlet jumped up in delighted shock. Lily noticed, however, that Avril's face fell slightly. Out of all the girl's Avril was the only one, along with Lily, that had never had a boyfriend. This was probably because she was a bit dumpy, with long black hair that always looked as though it needed a good wash. Appearances aside, the most probable reason for her singledom was because she was a bit of a pain.  
  
"James Potter really? I thought you hated each other?" she sneered slightly at Lily.  
  
"Oh Avril don't be stupid, of course they don't hate each other!" Caitlin shot back at her, still clinging onto Lily. The other two were still jumping up and down screaming.  
  
"OH MY GOD!" Scarlet yelled.  
  
"Oh this is just sooooo perfect!" Alice yelled as well, using extravagant hand movements.  
  
"OH MY GOD!" Scarlet yelled again.  
  
"Right, right calm down. Back to the problem at hand," Caitlin said formally.  
  
"Oh yes of course," agreed Alice, and Scarlet and she sat back down again, eagerly awaiting orders.  
  
"How are we going to get them together?" Caitlin asked.  
  
"Oh that couldn't be too hard. They're so perfect for each other. Head boy and girl after all!" Alice said matter-of-factly.  
  
"Oh it's so romantic!" Scarlet swooned.  
  
"Could be harder than you think," Avril added bitterly. The others ignored her as usual, and all sat and thought for a moment. Lily took that moment to look round at her friends busy faces. It was moments like these that she realised she would fall apart without them.  
  
"Well, when I wanted to go out with Robbie, I went out with his best friend first to make him jealous," Scarlet offered eventually. The others looked at her disgusted.  
  
"Well James' best friend is Sirius, so that's never going to happen," Caitlin said sarcastically. "How did you and Frank get together, Alice?"  
  
"I don't really know. We just sorted drifted towards each other and started going out. Meant to be." The others all gave a loud 'awwwwh' in unison, and Alice blushed. "What about you and Sirius?"  
  
Lily at once looked round at her best friend, who was now looking a little pale. Lily had never heard this story, she knew there was some secret surrounding it and Caitlin had asked Lily not to press her about it. Lily had respected her best friend's decision not to tell her, although it had annoyed her at first. Tonight though was a night for sharing secrets, after all Lily had admitted she liked James. Was Caitlin finally going to tell?  
  
"Uh... well..." Caitlin was buying herself some time. Then she finally came across her answer and grinned to herself. "Pure animal magnetism," she stated. The other girls seemed happy with this explanation and burst into a fit of giggles. Lily however, was slightly annoyed that Caitlin's secret remained.  
  
"Oh I know what you should do!" Scarlet exclaimed. The other's all looked at her sceptically. "Go to the Gryffindor – Slytherin match on Saturday! James' hormones are bound to be charged after that. I know Robbie's are – and he's not even playing," she said with a mischievous grin across her little face.  
  
"Scarlet!" Alice squealed. "You're so bad!" The others burst out laughing, although silently they all thought it was the best plan Scarlet had ever come up with. -  
  
Lily took Scarlet's advice and the next Saturday she headed up, for the very first time, to the Gryffindor stand in the Quidditch Stadium. She was wearing her sheepskin jacket, as well as a Gryffindor scarf and woolly hat. It was now well and truly into autumn and the wind was whistling around the stands. If it hadn't been for the intense atmosphere Lily found when she emerged into the stand she was sure she would have been absolutely freezing. Other people's high spirits seemed to be keeping her warm.  
  
She took her seat down beside Alice and Frank.  
  
"'Lo Lily," Frank shouted over the noise off the crowd. "Alice tells me this is your first Quidditch match."  
  
"Frank's going to talk you through it," Alice explained. Lily nodded graciously.  
  
Once the game started however, Lily found that she didn't need much explained. She got totally caught up in the emotion of the game. Robbie Brown, Scarlet's boyfriend, did the commentating, and she would squeal every time he spoke. He did a great job introducing the Gryffindor team – 'The magnificent seven. Keeper Martin, Beaters Wilson and Simpson, Seeker McDaniel, Chasers Brown, Kenworthy annnnnnnnnnnd POTTER!' He was less enthusiastic about the Slytherins – 'seven people, mounted on brooms... at least they're trying.'  
  
Lily was admittedly no expert on Quidditch, but it was clear to even her that James was by far the best player in the game. He swooped and swerved, passing the quaffle with perfection to his fellow chasers Caitlin, and Leanne Brown – Robbie's little sister. Soon enough Gryffindor were leading 70 – 0, and James, clearly thinking the game was in the bag, started to do tricks with the quaffle to amuse the crowd. They loved it, oooh and aaahing in all the right places, as James led the other two girls in what were obviously rehearsed performances.  
  
The Slytherin team began to become even more angry when they realised they were still being beaten, when the Gryffindor team hardly seemed to be trying. The rage finally brewed over resulting in a bludger being aimed towards James' head when he didn't even have the quaffle – he dodged it just in time. The Gryffindor supporters were immediately all up on their feet demanding a punishment for this obvious foul. The referee clearly didn't want to dampen the Slytherin's spirits any further and refused to award a penalty. The Gryffindors all sat down astounded, only Sirius, who Lily could see a few rows in front of her, remained standing.  
  
"Do it Prongs!" he roared. This was obviously a common battle cry because at once the Gryffindor team reacted. James yelled something to Caitlin and Leanne but it could not be made out over the crowd. The three of them flew back to their own goal hoops, and paused there for a moment, Leanne with the quaffle under her arm. Lily wondered why they had stopped, it seemed to have been such a fast moving game until then, her question was at once answered. The whole crowd went silent, even the Slytherin supporters. At once a faint whispering came from the Gryffindor supporters, and even some of the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs. They all seemed to be softly chanting the same phrase but Lily couldn't make it out. She decided to concentrate on the game instead.  
  
James, Caitlin and Leanne still hadn't moved, and the Slytherins didn't quite know what to do, they hadn't even tried to tackle them yet. Lily had to admit that the sight of the three of them on their brooms, their robes majestically billowing out behind them in the wind, was enough to make her want to jump on a broom herself and go and join them. The chanting was getting louder now, and Lily could also see some people beginning to drum their hands off their laps.  
  
Suddenly James made his move, and Lily couldn't concentrate on what the crowd was saying anymore, she had to concentrate on this, because this was fast! Leanne suddenly streaked out in front of James, quaffle in her right hand, Caitlin moved off last flying a fair distance behind Leanne. The Slytherins obviously were thinking the same thing as Lily, that Leanne was going to pass to James, because they immediately moved to put a block between them. James was much closer to Leanne and in her line of vision; there was no way she couldn't even tell where Caitlin was.  
  
The crowd was getting louder still, Lily could now make out what they were chanting – 'Pitter – Potter, Pitter – Potter'.  
  
For a moment it looked as though Lily and the Slytherins were right, Leanne made to pass to James, but changed at the last moment and seemingly lobbed the quaffle aimlessly over her shoulder.  
  
"Pitter – Potter, Pitter – Potter."  
  
The quaffle landed perfectly into Caitlin's hand.  
  
"Pitter – Potter, Pitter – Potter."  
  
She threw it straight up in the air, waited for it to fall down again, and then flicked it with the back of her broom, towards James.  
  
"Pitter – Potter, Pitter – Potter."  
  
The chanting definitely got louder when James caught the quaffle. People were starting to stamp their feet, as well as slap their hands off their laps.  
  
"Pitter – Potter, Pitter – Potter."  
  
James made a dash up the Quidditch field with the Quaffle firmly lodged under his arm. Caitlin and Leanne did not follow.  
  
"Pitter – Potter, Pitter – Potter."  
  
James dodged the bludgers the Slytherin beaters were trying to thump at him.  
  
"Pitter – Potter, Pitter – Potter."  
  
James dodged the Slytherin chasers that were desperately trying grab onto him. Caitlin and Leanne had flown together to the middle of the field. They had paused again, Leanne was looking at her watch, and Caitlin was stretching and giving a very fake yawn – the Slytherin crowd were furious.  
  
As James approached the Slytherin hoops the crowd had started shouting the chant, even Lily found herself joining in.  
  
"PITTER – POTTER, PITTER – POTTER."  
  
Once he was in scoring range James threw the quaffle high into the air, and then jumped up to follow it himself, leaving his broom behind. Quick as a flash he lifted his broom, and hit the quaffle with it like a tennis racket, with a tremendous force. The quaffle had gone straight through the middle hoop even before he had managed to swing his broom back underneath him again.  
  
"GOAAAAAAAAAAAAAL!" roared Robbie. The entire crowd lifted onto their feet, the Slytherins in despair, and the Gryffindors in jubilation. Caitlin and Leanne remained in the middle of the field, applauding half- heartedly; they looked like they saw this sort of thing everyday. The rest of the team raced to James to congratulate him. As Hannah McDaniel, the seeker, put her arm round him to pull him into a hug, Lily noticed the tiny golden snitch clasped in her hand. The game was over, they had won. James then flew over to the Gryffindor supporters who were all chanting 'James! James! James!' He flew low over them so he could give Sirius a high five, and some 5th year girls could touch his robes – one of them nearly fainted. Then he flew back down to join the rest of the team on the ground.  
  
In spite of herself Lily found herself running excitedly down the steps with the rest of the crowd. She couldn't wait to get to James. Looking back on this moment, she was sure that if she had been able to get to him she would have admitted her undying love for him right there on the spot. Perhaps fortunately, she was not able to get to him. She found that his adoring fans, mainly younger female pupils, surrounded him. They were all shouting at him, hoping for a moment of his attention. Lily could also make out several marriage proposals being shouted out – one of them from Sirius. James was clearly enjoying the attention, but as the mob started to get more vicious he decided to cool the situation a bit.  
  
"Listen ladies, this is all lovely. But this is my girl here." Lily strained her neck anxiously to see whom he was talking about. For one brief moment she had found herself hoping she would find him pointing at her. She was saddened and a little shocked to see him put his arm around the other chaser, Leanne Brown. Now she was off her broom she didn't look as intimidating. She was very short, with long blonde hair, and was now giggling and blushing profusely.  
  
Lily felt a tap on her shoulder.  
  
"There's no point trying to talk to him now. Don't worry you'll see him later. Let's head back to the tower." Caitlin was looking very wind swept and tired, but jubilant all the same.  
  
"Ok," said Lily admitting defeat. "Well done by the way, that was fantastic."  
  
"Correction. HE was fantastic." Lily gave a polite laugh in agreement, not wanting to admit to Caitlin just how James Potter's broom skills had made her feel. In truth, she had never wanted him more. She walked back up to the castle with Caitlin, and Sirius carrying Caitlin's broom over his shoulder.  
  
Later on that night Lily was sitting in the private common room writing a letter to her mother. She knew her mother loved to hear about all things magic, and so she thought she better write to her about the Quidditch match when everything was still fresh in her head. She could hear the party was still continuing in the main common room down the stairs. She had had every intention of joining it, Caitlin had begged her to, but she didn't think she could take having to watch James with Leanne all night so she had excused herself and gone to the headquarters.  
  
As she strained to hear if she could make out any of the conversations from downstairs, she heard someone happily whistling, and trouncing up the stairs. James was coming.  
  
'Oh God! Oh God! Run to your bedroom! You can still make it!' Too late. James was already pushing open the portrait hole. The room was dark though and he seemed not to have noticed Lily sitting in the room. He was still in his Quidditch robes and clearly very happy with himself.  
  
"Oh James come here you sexy biatch!" he said in a surprisingly girly voice. "Potter! Potter! I want your babies!" he said breathlessly, and chuckled at his own impression.  
  
Usually this type of cocky behaviour would have enraged Lily, but for some reason at the moment she couldn't help but laugh. James was clearly startled by her presence, but he regained his cockiness quickly.  
  
"Lily!" he exclaimed happily when he realised she was there, she had a funny feeling he'd been drinking.  
  
"I take it you won then," she said casually.  
  
"Well you would know. You were there," he replied just as casual.  
  
"How would you know that?" Lily said a little indignantly. 'Damn!' she thought. 'Caitlin must have told him!'  
  
"Because I saw you," he said slyly.  
  
"How could you have seen me? Surely the crowd was huge?" Lily had a funny feeling he was trying to trick her into admitting she was there, and there was no way she was going to let him.  
  
"Ah well, beautiful, they said I could have been a seeker if I had really wanted to be. You see, I'm very good at picking out small details, especially if I'm looking closely for them," he said slightly seductively. Lily didn't know why, but she suddenly felt quite light-headed. She found herself replying in an equally slightly seductive voice.  
  
"Were you looking closely for me then?"  
  
James hiccupped and suddenly his mood changed.  
  
"Em, well yes, just to see if you'd decided to come. You know because of that conversation in the Three Broomsticks," he replied, trying to get his voice back to normal.  
  
"Oh yes of course," Lily said trying not to sound too upset. "I didn't know you were seeing Leanne?" she blurted out. James' mood seemed to become relaxed again.  
  
"What?!" he laughed. "Where'd you get that from?"  
  
"Oh its just I saw you after the match."  
  
"Lily, she's in 3rd year for Christ's sake! I was just trying to get those girls off my back!"  
  
"Oh right," Lily mumbled. She was feeling pretty stupid right now. She was just thinking of how she could make an excuse to leave when James saved her the trouble.  
  
"Well I'll leave you to your letter. Night Lily." With that he stumbled off to bed.  
  
'Maybe if he's had too much to drink he won't remember that conversation' Lily hoped beyond all hopes. -  
  
So there's another really long one for you all. I probably won't be updating for a while but I'll try. Please read and review! 


	12. Cocktails and Dreams

Taking a break from revision to write this. People seemed to enjoy my Quidditch so I'm happy! Sorry if the drinking offended some people, but it had to be put in to further the story. I hope I haven't lost some reviewers because of it. If you're still reading this and left a review a few chapters ago, could you review again? Just so I know you're still there!  
  
I've seen loads of people answering every single review personally, which I think is kool. So I've decided to do it too, they're at the end of the chapter.  
  
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Chapter 12 : Cocktails and Dreams  
  
'Did Lily Evans just flirt with me? I'd started leaving her alone, and _now_ she's flirting with me?!  
  
'Right I'm going to sort this!' James jumped back out of bed, with the clear decision in his head, that he was going to march right back out into the private common room and ask Lily just what the bloody hell she thought she was playing at!  
  
As he walked across his room to the door he realised he was still in his Quidditch robes, and for some reason carrying his broomstick. Deciding that now was not the time to worry about such trivial matters, he marched purposely on.  
  
He swung open his bedroom door and found that Lily was sitting exactly as he had left her a few minutes ago. Only now, instead of wearing jeans and baggy t-shirt, with her hair roughly tied up in a loose bun, he found that she was wearing a tight red cocktail dress, and her hair was flowing over her shoulders in ringlets. Also, instead of the letter he'd seen her writing, she was now gazing lovingly at that photograph of himself as a three-year-old with a bucket on his head. Again he found himself too busy to be perturbed.  
  
"Lily, what just happened?" he asked a bit matter-of-factly.  
  
"Well you and I flirted, and then you chickened out and left," Lily replied casually.  
  
"Why did I do that?"  
  
"Because you're afraid I'll reject you again. You've never been afraid before because your pursuit of me was only a bit of a mess about. Now it's turned into something more serious. Remus has noticed, if I were you I'd destroy the evidence, if you know what I mean," she replied again flatly.  
  
"You think I should kill Moony?" James said starting to ponder the idea seriously.  
  
"Yes Prongs." Lily looked at him as if to ask why he'd never thought of it before.  
  
"I don't know that I really could you know. I mean he's a werewolf, and it might be a bit hard to find a silver bullet to do the job."  
  
"Yeah but you're a stag. Could you not stab him with an antler or something?" Lily offered.  
  
"How do you know that?" James asked casually. He surprised himself at the level of how much he didn't care she knew.  
  
"I guessed," Lily shrugged. James nodded in acceptance of this. Looking at it now, it seemed so totally obvious that he and his mates would have turned into illegal animagi by the time they were fifth year, and would have started parading around the school grounds at night with a werewolf. He made a mental note to announce it publicly in the Great Hall at breakfast tomorrow.  
  
"Anyway Lily, I still don't think I could kill Moony. He'd be a bit upset."  
  
"Well it was just a suggestion. We could always start going out instead?" Lily said, with a face that looked as though she couldn't care less.  
  
"Yea that sounds cool. Do you want to be my girlfriend then?" James said sounding slightly interested.  
  
"Yea whatever," Lily said sounding positively bored.  
  
The two of them sat staring around the room for a moment, pondering what to do next.  
  
"So..."  
  
"Well..."  
  
The same thought seemed to hit them both at the same time. Suddenly a loud, greasy guitar-solo started. James pushed all the stuff off the desk Lily had been working at and sat her on top of it. He stood up beside her and she wrapped her legs around him. They started to kiss passionately. James felt Lily starting to unbutton his robes, her hands running all over his neck and chest. He also felt a third hand coming from behind his shoulder and ruffling his hair. James looked round to see where it was coming from and was a bit surprised to see Sirius walking apologetically backwards.  
  
"Sorry mate, just trying to help." James looked to see where Sirius had walked to and saw that Remus and Peter were standing beside them. All the time Lily was still undressing him and kissing his neck.  
  
"It's ok. What you guys doing here anyway?" James asked, clearly happy to see them.  
  
"We thought we'd just come and see how things were getting on," Peter replied.  
  
"We obviously picked a great moment to check on you," Remus added eagerly.  
  
"Yeah," James laughed. "What do you think then?"  
  
"I think it's good. At least this way I didn't have to die," Remus said thoughtfully.  
  
"See that's what I thought," James replied sincerely. Lily gave out a frustrated moan. James looked back at her and realised he was neglecting his duties a bit. "Listen I'll be with you in a moment," he said apologetically to the rest of the Marauders. They took a seat on the floor, still watching James and Lily. Peter whipped out a bag of popcorn from his pocket, and started sharing it with Sirius.  
  
James had just started kissing Lily again, when he heard a rap on the private common room door. He was slightly annoyed when he turned to see his parents walk through it. He decided to ignore them and turned back to Lily. Just in middle of another, particularly good, kiss James felt a tap on his shoulder. It was his mum.  
  
"God mum, do you mind like?" he snapped at her. He turned back to Lily and mouthed 'I'm sorry' to her. She answered him with another breath-taking kiss.  
  
"Oh I'm sorry Poppet," James' mum replied. She was quite short, but skinny all the same. She was a very 'mumly-mum', and always took the greatest interest in her son's life and making sure he was happy. "Whose this?" she asked cheerfully. James broke off his kiss with Lily to make the introductions.  
  
"This is Lily Evans. Lily, this is my mum." Lily shook hands with his mum, her legs wrapped round him all the time. "Dad, Lily. Lily, my dad." Mr Potter stepped forwards and shook Lily's hand also. "So are we done here?" James asked his parents heatedly. "'cause we were kind of in the middle of something," he finished pointedly.  
  
"Of course Jay," his dad answered in a deep voice. "We'll leave you to it." He was a very tall and built man, and looked very much like James. It was probably because of this he was the only one that could pull off calling him 'Jay'.  
  
"Look Prongs it doesn't matter. You're too late now anyway," Lily said frustrated, and unhooked her legs from around him. "I'm pregnant," she said whilst crossing her arms. James looked at her shocked for a moment.  
  
"What?! And more importantly – how?!"  
  
"It's Peter's," she said with a smirk. James was even more flabbergasted.  
  
"PETER'S?! When?!" Lily started to look slightly more uncomfortable under his gaze; James thought she might even feel a bit sorry about her treatment of him.  
  
"Well you were taking too long faffing over your parents, so we nipped into my room when you weren't looking."  
  
"Sorry mate," Peter mumbled through a mouthful of popcorn, still sitting on the floor beside Sirius.  
  
"WHAT?! How could you?!" James felt like he was going to explode.  
  
"Look Prongs, I said I'm sorry..." Lily started.  
  
"No, no, I mean actually how could you? I was right here the whole time, I would have noticed."  
  
"No mate, it's true. We all saw them," Remus piped up. Sirius, James' parents and Caitlin, who had suddenly appeared, all nodded vigorously in agreement.  
  
"Did no one try to stop them?" James asked, amazed at his family and friends' stupidity. They all looked round at each other, starting to look a bit guilty.  
  
"Look if it helps, Prongs, we were all disgusted," Sirius said as though this would clear up the whole matter.  
  
"Yes Padfoot, that helps a lot," James replied sarcastically. He turned back round to Lily, who was now lazily filing her nails, ignoring the situation she had caused. "What are you going to do then? About the baby?" James asked, slightly concerned about her behaviour.  
  
"I don't really know," Lily yawned. "I know what you should do though."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Open your eyes."  
  
James woke with a start, and found himself in a cold sweat. One thing he was sure of – Lily Evans was starting to mess up his head.  
  
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For the rest of the week James spent most of his time trying to avoid Lily. He wasn't too sure just how he would react if he was left for too long in her presence again. He felt that he had worked too hard to mature into the guy he was today, to risk returning to the bumbling – 'Evans will you go out with me?' – idiot he had been before.  
  
James found that avoiding Lily had been surprising easy. He wasn't sure if this was because he was constantly being followed about by a gaggle of giggling girls, in the aftermath of his Quidditch performance, or because Lily was trying to avoid seeing him as well. He didn't have too much time to dwell on the latter however. His new army of supporters made sure he didn't have too much time for anything. At first he had enjoyed the attention, but as the days dragged on it had started to get him down – especially when Sirius was engulfed into the mob early on Tuesday morning, and hadn't been seen since.  
  
As if answering his prayer, Lily appeared at dinnertime on Thursday, while James was in the Great Hall eating. She arrived pushing and shoving girls this way and that. James watched her with amusement as she gave out a detention to a particularly large, 6th year Hufflepuff girl, for threatening her with her wand. As soon as Lily judged that she had got as close to him as she possible could, he saw her waving and shouting to get his attention. Of course she already had it.  
  
"Uh Potter, I know you're finding all this particularly time consuming," she yelled, although he could make out the sarcasm. "But do you think you could try starting fulfilling your Head Boy duties again?" James laughed at how formal she sounded when she was flustered.  
  
"I'd let him fulfil my duties anytime," he heard a 4th year Ravenclaw say slyly to her friend. He was inclined to ignore it; he'd been hearing similar remarks all week and they'd grown a little old. Seemingly Lily couldn't let it be.  
  
"Oh come on," she said exasperatedly. "That didn't even make any sense!" James saw the look of death the Ravenclaw was giving her, and quickly got up from his seat.  
  
"Uh yea Evans, I'm coming now," he said hurriedly. The crowd parted like the Dead Sea, allowing him to walk right to her.  
  
"Thank you," said Lily, throwing worried glances at the envious faces now staring at her.  
  
"No seriously, thank you," James whispered in her ear and frog-marched her quickly from the hall. Once they were outside, James thought they were safe enough to start walking normally again, and they headed down one of the corridors to start their patrolling. "So has there been any bother this week?" he asked, eager to keep the conversation to strictly business.  
  
"A bit yea. I think they're all still on a bit of a high from the Quidditch match on Saturday." James both looked uncomfortably at the floor for a moment, he had been hoping she wouldn't bring that up. For one he was sick of talking about it, the mob had helped him analyse it from every angle, and secondly he wasn't sure he was ready to bring up their conversation again. He decided to bite the bullet and talk to her about it.  
  
"So did you enjoy it then?"  
  
"Yea it was good," Lily said quickly. Suddenly she stopped walking. "Leanne?!" she said sounding shocked.  
  
'Shit, she still doesn't believe me.'  
  
"Look Lily I told you, there's nothing between me and..."  
  
"No look, Leanne!" Lily said pointing with her wand. James looked and saw his fellow chaser running aimlessly down the corridor, bumping off suits of armour and paintings as she did so. She had her hands covering her face as she did so, in fact James could only recognise her from her long, flowing, blonde hair. She obviously couldn't see a thing and ran straight into him, which knocked her onto the floor in front of him.  
  
"Lea what's wrong?" James asked concerned, offering his hand to pull her back onto her feet. She refused to take her own hands away from her face, and was sobbing uncontrollably. "Lea wise up, I've seen you cry plenty of times before. You cry every time you miss the quaffle!" He was starting to get a bit fed up with her – he hated to see women cry, and yanked her up roughly by her wrist. As he did so he managed to pull her hand away a little from her face, and saw what she was hiding. He froze in the horror of what he saw. Across Leanne's face, written in warts and boils, were disgusting expletives, all running with the theme that she was 'Potter's Whore'. Leanne looked at him petrified for a moment, and he stared back at her in disbelief. It was Lily that finally broke their gaze.  
  
"Vip pulidoso," she murmured quickly, and at once Leanne's face was wiped clean. "That should sort it, but I still think you should go to the hospital wing," she said to Leanne soothingly. Leanne ran shaking into her arms, keen to get away from James' grip – he was still holding her by the wrist. "I'll take her to see Madam Pompfrey, and then I think I'll go and get my dinner. You can finish by yourself can't you?" Lily was looking at James with a look of pure fear, and Leanne was burying her head into her shoulder. Both looked keen to get away from him. James nodded mutely to Lily's question and watched as they both practically ran down the corridor to get away from him.  
  
He glumly decided to complete the rest of his duties alone and it was past 10 o'clock before he made it back to the Gryffindor Tower.  
  
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Back in the common room his story wasn't met by the reception he'd hoped for. Sirius found his predicament hilariously funny, Remus didn't have any words of wisdom for him, although he did look genuinely concerned, and Peter... well Peter never really had anything memorable to say.  
  
"Honestly you would have thought I was the one that had written it all over her face, the speed that she tried to get away from me!" he moaned to them. Looking for a little support, and reassurance that he wasn't a crazed monster.  
  
"Well maybe she thought that if they found her with you again, the bullying would only get worse," Remus offered. James sunk further into his chair, and started to feel very sorry for himself indeed.  
  
"Oh God, why do I have to be so popular with the ladies?!" Sirius cried mockingly out to the heavens. James gave him a sulky glare. "Oh come on, wise up. It's not as though you were the one hurt is it? Personally I don't see the problem with being surrounded by adoring women 24/7."  
  
"Oh do you not?" Caitlin said with an eyebrow raised, as she walked into the common room and perched herself on the arm of Sirius' chair. He slinked his arm around her waist and puckered up at her, by way as an apology. She pushed his head away from her and pretended to concentrate on the conversation again. James decided to try her for a bit of sympathy – she was a girl after all.  
  
"Sometimes I just felt so alone, even though I was surrounded by all those people." Sirius immediately burst out with a laugh like a bark. Remus buried his head in his book to hide his sniggers, and even Peter began laughing at him. Only Caitlin tried to look as though she was even slightly concerned. This would have worked, if she didn't happen to be trying to fight a huge grin from creeping across her face.  
  
"God Prongs, you're even starting to sound like a woman now. You need to start hanging out with the lads more, bring back your masculinity. We'll have plenty of time for that next week," he said pointedly. James glanced over at Remus, it was full moon next week. He would have to go through a horrible and painful transformation into a werewolf every evening for three nights in a row. James could hardly wait for the fun to begin.  
  
"Awwwh poor Jamie. Having to spend quality time with you lot!" Caitlin giggled, and playfully slapped Sirius across the head.  
  
"Jamie?!" all the Marauders said in unison. Caitlin looked a little taken back by their reaction, it had obviously not been what she was looking for.  
  
"What?" she said defensively. "I've called him Jamie before, it's a thing from our childhood!"  
  
"We know you've called him Jamie before," Remus said formally.  
  
"You call him Jamie when you're being girly," Sirius added.  
  
"You're only girly when you have gossip," Peter said knowledgably.  
  
"And you're only girly around the people who the gossip is about," James finished. There was no doubting it – together the Marauders made a brilliant team.  
  
"That's so not true," Caitlin said, trying to laugh it off.  
  
"Caitlin, what's the gossip?" The Marauders said in unison. Caitlin nearly fell off the arm of the chair, and was clearly a bit uneasy. James was sure they had hit on something here.  
  
"It's nothing...seriously...it's....Lily!" Caitlin shouted as she greeted her best friend. "How's Leanne?" Caitlin added quickly.  
  
"She's ok, she's spending the night in the hospital wing though, still a bit shaken up," Lily said sounding exhausted.  
  
"Who was it?" James asked.  
  
"A first year would you believe? From Ravenclaw." The group all laughed as they realised just what effect James was having on girls as young as 11. Lily slumped into an armchair, and closed her eyes. It looked like there was nothing else that she would love more, but go to sleep.  
  
"Lils are you ok?" Caitlin asked her, looking very concerned.  
  
"Yea, just a bit of bother with James' fans at dinner," Lily said sleepily. "Accused me of stealing their boy!" she said sarcastically, all the time getting closer and closer to falling asleep right there in front of them. The rest of the group became more and more relaxed, sitting watching her peacefully.  
  
Suddenly Lily sat bolt upright, and gave three loud hiccups.  
  
"What the hell?!" Sirius exclaimed as he jumped out of his seat.  
  
"Evans are you ok?" James said to her.  
  
"I'm fine baby, how are you?" she said in a voice that was very smooth, and made her sound a lot older.  
  
"Uh I could be better I suppose," James answered honestly, still too caught up in himself to really notice the sudden change in Lily's mood. He was staring at his hands, thinking about how to make up for the abuse he had caused Leanne.  
  
"Do you need cheering up?" she said slyly.  
  
"Honestly? Yes I do," James said innocently enough. He heard a movement and looked up to see what was happening. Lily had got up off her seat and was walking seductively over to him. The rest of the group were all watching her in pure disbelief. Now James had a closer look he noticed a funny glaze over her eyes, they weren't their usual brilliant green, and in fact had a bit of a red tinge to them. He knew there was definitely something funny going on.  
  
Suddenly Lily was sitting on his knee and stroking his hair. "Uh now Evans, what you doing there?"  
  
"I'm going to cheer you up." Caitlin and Sirius started to snigger, clearly enjoying the fool Lily was making of herself. Even Remus was laughing, he didn't approve of people being put under spells, but as long they weren't in any mortal danger he never really found the strength to put a stop to them. Peter was just staring at James with wide eyes, clearly anxious to see what his next move would be.  
  
"And... uh... how would you be doing that then?"  
  
"Oh," she whispered to him. "I think I have an idea."  
  
James suddenly felt himself being torn between two very strong emotions. One was to be a gentleman, take Lily up to her room and lock her in there, until whatever spell she was clearly under wore off. The other was to take advantage of the situation, take Lily up to _his _room and lock her in there, until whatever spell she was clearly under wore off. After a few moments of some hard decision-making, Remus made the choice for him.  
  
"Uh Lily, do you really think you should be doing that?" he said politely. He had obviously decided enough was enough. Lily twisted round in James' lap to face him.  
  
"Awh Remy, are you looking out for me?" she said in a baby voice. "That's so hot!" she exclaimed breathlessly. Quick as a flash, she bounded off James' lap, ran across to Remus, straddled him and brought him into a passionate embrace.  
  
James at once felt the surge of jealously begin to bubble up inside him. He managed to keep control of it however. It was only a joke after all. Remus clearly wasn't enjoying it. No matter how seductively Lily writhed about on top of him, kissing him, Remus remained with eyes wide-open, knuckles white with gripping the arms of his chair in sheer terror. Peter and Sirius were sitting watching Remus' every move, they had never seen him with a girl before, the whole being a teenage werewolf thing meant he wasn't good with women.  
  
As James scanned the room, anxious for anything else to concentrate on, he found that it was surprisingly empty apart from them. He also noticed that instead of staring at Remus and Lily, Caitlin was staring at him, seemingly trying to analyse his reaction. She looked away as soon as he caught her on.  
  
Unable to find anything significant to take his attention away from the horror that was before him, he found he line of vision slipping back to Remus and Lily. Danger sign one was the fact that Remus' knuckles were no longer white, but had returned to their natural shade – he had loosened his grip. Danger sign two was when Remus closed his eyes. Danger sign three was when Peter and Sirius started cheering, confirming what James was thinking – Remus had now joined in with the kiss.  
  
James felt the jealously inside him boil over. Even quicker than Lily had moved, he found himself launch out of his chair and across the room. She pulled Lily roughly off of Remus and heard her land with a thud on the sofa behind him. He then pushed his hand hard into Remus' shoulder, so he was pinned in the chair, and moved his head so their faces were barely an inch apart.  
  
"I think that's enough don't you? We wouldn't want to take advantage of her," he whispered dangerously to Remus. James knew that his face was probably contorted with rage, which was not a pleasant sign. He was a bit surprised that Remus did not look back to him in fear, but more with a look that looked like he was shocked at his own behaviour. James lent off him and turned to face the rest of the group. Caitlin was already seeing to Lily, Sirius had one eyebrow raised at him, and Peter had a strange look of hunger in his eyes.  
  
"Take her to the hospital wing and sort her out would you? And I don't think we should mention any of this to her when she comes round. Agreed?" The others all nodded, which James took as their solemn vow of secrecy – after all they were all used to holding secrets from the rest of the world now. Deciding that the matter was cleared up, James stormed up to his room without looking back.  
  
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countessmel: I'm sorry about the drinking thing, but he wasn't really drunk. I just wanted to make him a bit tipsy so he would slip up around Lily.  
  
**BurningIce22**: Thanks. I'm glad she admitted it too!  
  
**luvsirius**: Lol ok here's me updating! Please don't hurt me!  
  
**Twilight66**: Thanks. I really enjoy your story too.  
  
**Oliverwoodschic**: Well he did remember the conversation. Thanks for reviewing so much.  
  
**kaleidoscope0-0eyes**: I liked that line too. Thanks about the characters, I'm trying to keep to what they come across as in the books as much as possible. The ones I make up I'm basing on people I know.  
  
**leanne**: Do you like your cameo?  
  
I didn't really like that chapter. I had to write it to keep the story going though. It'll get better again I promise. By the way James is not an abusive deranged psychopath in case anyone thought they were picking that up in that chapter. Please read and review! 


	13. Girls Talk!

Ok the start of the last chapter was a dream James was having, that's why it was so strange! I think some people missed that and so probably didn't understand the last chapter. Sorry for the confusion.  
  
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Chapter 13 : Girls Talk!  
  
When Lily woke the next morning she found herself in her own bed, with a very bad headache, and no recollection of how she had got there. She sat up in her bed, and immediately felt as though there was a weight tied round her forehead, dragging her head down into the bed again. She tried to shake it off, clambered out of her bed, and made her way to her wardrobe. She dressed slowly, taking great care not to knock or move her head too suddenly. Even twisting it slightly made her feel very dizzy.  
  
She considered taking herself off to the hospital wing, and missing her first class of the day. That was until she realised that her first class was Defence against the Dark Arts. She couldn't afford to miss any of those classes, as at NEWT level it was very difficult. She didn't have Caitlin to copy up from either, and she didn't like asking Alice – the only other girl in her class, because she had really bad handwriting. She could have asked James she supposed, but she thought it was better to suffer her headache, that have to suffer his taunting when she asked him for a favour.  
  
'No,' she thought. 'It's better I get up and go to class.'  
  
She managed to slump her way out into the private common room, only to find herself confronted by a very startled James Potter.  
  
"Jeez Evans, you scared me!" Lily laughed, she could feel her headache lifting already.  
  
"I scared you?!" she asked incredulously, she laughed again.  
  
"Yea well, I wasn't expecting you to be..." He paused. "How are you feeling?"  
  
"I'm fine," Lily said defensively. 'What does he know?' she thought, panicking.  
  
"That's good. See you later," he replied briskly, and turned to walk out of the room.  
  
"Potter wait! Why wouldn't I be..." James slammed the lion cub portrait behind him as he left, leaving Lily with a thousand worried thoughts running through her head.  
  
-----------------  
  
After she managed to force down her breakfast, alone in the Great Hall – she couldn't find Caitlin anywhere, she trundled off to her first class. When she arrived she found that most of the class where already there. She took her usual seat on the far left of the very backbench, and saw the Severus Snape had taken his usual seat directly in front of her. He turned to face her as soon as she sat down, to start his usual torrent of abuse.  
  
"You know Mudblood, I'm starting to see why you kept up this subject, even though you're so pathetic at it." Lily seethed with rage, her eyes narrowing, it was her worse subject yes, but that just meant she only got 253% instead of her usual 314%. She was hardly pathetic at it. Severus seeing that he had got a reaction from her, continued. "If anyone ever needed protection from the Dark Arts, it would be a silly little girl like you." Lily felt her anger get the better of her.  
  
"Get lost, you slimy git!" she hissed at him. She saw a smirk flicker across his face for a moment, and then surprisingly she saw it fade into a worried expression, as his eyes gazed upon the doorway into the classroom. She followed his gaze and saw immediately what was worrying him so much, James and Remus had just entered the room. When she turned round again, she saw that Severus was now facing his own bench. She knew he wouldn't bother her again in this class, James always sat beside her in this class, and everyone knew Severus was petrified of James.  
  
James had taken advantage of the fact that Lily no longer had her friends with her in this class – Alice was always with Frank at the front bench, from the very first day in 6th year. He had magically carved his name into the stool beside hers to prevent anyone else from sitting there, and spent most of his time trying to put his arms round her to 'comfort' her, whenever they were learning about anything particularly evil. This behaviour infuriated her, but one thing he was useful for was keeping Severus off her back.  
  
Expecting James to take his usual seat beside her, Lily decided to take advantage of the situation herself. He couldn't get away from her now, so he would have to answer her questions. Maybe he knew something about her headache, which was now coming back with a vengeance.  
  
Well James did take his usual seat, but he didn't sit down on it until he'd dragged the stool across to the far right of the bench. Remus must have noticed the bewildered look on Lily's face, because he gave her a very worried look and then sat down beside James. They both started talking in very hurried whispers, while Lily looked on. She was saved any further embarrassment by the class starting.  
  
Professor Gobbin started to teach them about Lethifolds and Lily furiously scribbled down notes on the subject. She must have been making quite a noise because she managed to attract Severus' unwanted attention again. When he turned round to see what she was doing, she saw an evil smile grow across his thin face. He could barely contain his glee at the fact that James was not beside her to protect her.  
  
"On your own Mudblood?" he whispered. Lily glanced round to Remus and James. They were only sitting a few feet away from her, but they were still immersed in their conversation and hadn't noticed what Severus was doing.  
  
"Maybe," she replied, she couldn't think of a better come back.  
  
"Looks like Potter's more interested in the half-breed, than the Mudblood today. Hurts doesn't it?" As he spoke Lily almost had the feeling he could see inside her head. Knowing this was ridiculous, she tried to think of something to throw him off his current track of abuse. She glanced round at Remus and James again; she noticed that James had now put his hand on Remus' shoulder.  
  
"So what? I don't need him to protect me from pathetic scum like you! And what do you mean 'half-breed' anyway?" Severus raised his eyebrow in mock amazement.  
  
"So... Little miss know-it-all, seems to not know the most important things?" He left Lily hanging for an explanation, turned back to his bench, and starting writing on a scrap bit of parchment. Lily knew it was his intention to try and wind her up, so she made a conscious effort not to let him, and put his last comment out of her head.  
  
She was just starting to concentrate on the lesson again, when the classroom door slowly opening behind her distracted her. Professor Gobbin, a particularly old wizard, didn't notice Sirius Black quickly slip round it, and into the classroom – he was more than 20 minutes late.  
  
Sirius was about to sit down in his usual spot when he noticed James in it. He gave both Remus and James a pitiful look and took the only remaining spot at the bench, beside Lily.  
  
"Evans," he nodded, giving a forced smile.  
  
Lily nodded back in acknowledgement, and turned back to the Professor Gobbin's lecture. She knew there would be no further conversation between her and Sirius. Although he had been going out with her best friend, on and off, for over a year, they had never really seen eye to eye. She saw him as a troublemaker, a bit arrogant, and she thought he was probably a bad influence on James. In return she thought he probably saw her as too much of a goody-two-shoes for his liking.  
  
15 minutes later, Lily noticed Severus put the scrap piece of parchment he had been writing on, on the edge of his desk. He folded it over, wrote something on the top, and tapped it three times with his wand. Lily watched it with growing fear as it floated off his desk and onto hers. On the top of the folded note, written in an untidy scrawl was the word 'Mudblood'.  
  
Lily was just gaining the courage to reach out and grab the note to read it, when another hand beat her to it. Sirius opened it and read it quickly, his face expressionless. After he had finished, he crumpled it up, and stuffed it roughly into his pocket. He gave a loud sigh, took out his wand, and sent a bolt of electricity from the end of it straight to Severus' backside.  
  
Severus jumped 3 feet into the air and gave a loud yelp of pain, clutching his backside. He turned round ready to give Lily hell for what she had done, but turned to face Sirius, twirling his wand with his fingertips, and giving him a huge grin. He hadn't noticed Sirius had come into the room, and Lily was sure he wouldn't have sent the note if he had known. Professor Gobbin still didn't notice anything, which Lily didn't exactly find reassuring. This man was meant to be an expert in Defence against the Dark Arts, and didn't even notice hexes being thrown about in his own classroom.  
  
The lesson finished soon after that, and as the class all hurried out Lily stopped Sirius to thank him.  
  
"Sirius... thanks... for sorting that out." Sirius waved his hand as if to say no thanks was needed.  
  
"Don't worry 'bout it. Although is little Lily Evans finally agreeing to the use of magic on fellow students?" he laughed.  
  
"Only in extreme circumstances," she replied semi-sternly. She noticed that James and Remus were both watching them with very puzzled faces. They had obviously missed Severus' gymnastic display.  
  
"I'll tell you later," Sirius whispered to them, obviously noticing their expressions as well. "See you Evans." Lily watched all three boys walk down the corridor, until they disappeared round the corner, and then she started in the opposite direction to get to her next class – Arithmancy.  
  
-----------------  
  
It was lunchtime before she caught up with Caitlin. She was sitting with Alice and Avril in the Great Hall, discussing their Arithmancy homework, when Caitlin came blazing into the room. Her curly, blonde hair looked even bouncy than usual, and she had the fire in her eyes she only got when she was mad. She brushed straight by the Marauders who were sitting up the table a bit and walked straight to Lily.  
  
"Uh... hello?" Lily said nervously as Caitlin slammed down on the bench beside her.  
  
"Hiya!" Caitlin said cheerily. She had a big smile on her face, but Lily noticed that her cheeriness had not spread to her eyes.  
  
"Cait what's wrong?" Lily said putting her hand on Caitlin's. Alice got up to leave them to it, sensing that this was probably a private thing – she had to drag Avril with her. After they had moved over to Frank and his mates, Caitlin let her happy premise drop.  
  
"Sirius and I broke up," she said flatly.  
  
"Oh," Lily tried to sound more concerned than she really was. Caitlin and Sirius broke up all the time, so it had kind of lost its edge. "When?"  
  
"This morning, at breakfast."  
  
"Is that why he was late to class?" Lily said, trying to sound sympathetic.  
  
"Well yes and no," Caitlin said starting to fidget with her hands a bit.  
  
"What do you mean?" Lily asked, not really sure if she wanted to know the answer.  
  
"Well he was late because he had to go to the hospital wing."  
  
"Caitlin... Why would Sirius have to go to the hospital wing?"  
  
"Because I hexed him...you-know-where," Caitlin whispered, and tried to suppress a small giggle.  
  
"Caitlin why did you do that?" Lily said sternly, not finding it amusing at all.  
  
"Because he was trying to tell me what to do," Caitlin said huffily. She didn't like Lily telling her off. "AND he always puts his friends before me!"  
  
"Are you sure he wasn't trying to gentle steer you in the right direction?" Caitlin had a bit of an explosive temper, and counted someone asking her to pass the salt as 'telling her what to do'.  
  
"No his exact words were 'Caitlin I forbid you to tell Lily'. Can you believe he actually used the word 'forbid'?" Lily didn't answer. She wanted more than anything – except maybe James Potter – to know what Caitlin couldn't tell her. But she knew from experience, that secrets between Sirius and Caitlin were usually kept that way. She pushed her food around her plate for a moment, and then looked up to see Caitlin looking at her expectantly.  
  
"Oh yea... 'Forbid'..." She couldn't hold it in anymore. "Caitlin... what can't you tell me?"  
  
"Thank God, I thought you weren't going to ask me there!" Caitlin looked excited at the prospect of spilling the beans, and then became pensive, thinking of a way to tell Lily what had happened. "Uh... you actually might not want to hear this..." Something inside Lily suddenly clicked.  
  
"Is this something to do with the headache I had this morning?" she said quickly.  
  
"Yes!" Caitlin yelled, she had obviously found a way of explaining it to her. "You see someone gave you a Lovers' Draft yesterday, made your eyes all rose-tinted, and I took you up to Madam Pompfrey, who gave you some potion which gave you the headache."  
  
"Why wouldn't Sirius want you to tell me that?" Lily asked bewildered.  
  
"Well it's not really the Draft he didn't want you to know about, it's what you did under the Draft. And when I say Sirius didn't want you to know, really I mean James."  
  
"Oh no! What did I do?" Lily could already feel her cheeks going red with embarrassment. "And what do you mean James? Oh God what did I do to James?"  
  
"Well you just kind of got real friendly with him on his seat and then..."  
  
"Oh my God! I kissed James?!" Lily shrieked, peeking at Caitlin through her fingers.  
  
"Remus," Caitlin said soothingly, placing her hand on Lily's shoulder.  
  
Lily gave a strangled type of scream that sounded like she had just been punched hard in the stomach.  
  
"I kissed Remus?!" she whispered. Amid all her confusion, another question kept sticking out in her mind. "Why wouldn't James want me to know that?"  
  
"Well it's not really that, that James didn't want you to know either. You see Remus kissed you back." Lily gave the strangled scream again. "And James completely flipped out." Lily suddenly sat bolt right again.  
  
"Really?" Caitlin nodded slowly, with a real smile on her face this time.  
  
"Uh huh, like threw you across the room, and went to hit Remus, Sirius had to hold him back and all."  
  
"Oh my God!" Lily gasped, at the fact James had nearly hit his best friend.  
  
"I know," Caitlin squealed completely reading Lily's cry wrong. "James likes you!"  
  
"Caitlin I kissed his best friend!" Lily said despairingly of her.  
  
"I know but you were under a spell, it doesn't count," she said plainly. "It's how he reacted that mattered!"  
  
"HE ALMOST HIT HIS BEST FRIEND! I don't care if that means he likes me, I don't want to go out with someone who's so violent!" Caitlin looked a bit guilty for a moment.  
  
"Uh well, he might not have gone that far, I might have exaggerated that a bit..."  
  
"How much did you exaggerate?" Lily asked sternly.  
  
"Uh well, Sirius didn't have to hold him back, I just thought that sounded good. And he didn't throw you across the room, he sort of roughly sat you on a sofa. And he didn't try to hit Remus, just spoke to him sternly about taking advantage of you. He didn't like it though! That bit was true!"  
  
"Are you telling me the truth? Because you better not be trying to get me to go out with some closet serial killer!"  
  
"Scout's honour," Caitlin said, looking very apologetic.  
  
"Cait you were never a scout!"  
  
"Yea well you know what I mean," Caitlin said offhandedly. "So...?"  
  
Lily gave a girly squeal.  
  
"James likes me!"  
  
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They had spent the rest of their classes that day, with the rest of the Gryffindor 7th year girls, discussing the best way to get James to ask Lily out. Lily couldn't ask him, it had been decided, because the girls were all romantics, so now they were trying to plan how best to trick him into it. Scarlet had come up with loads of ideas, that wouldn't be used by anyone over the age of 11. When she had been told this however, she had taken great pleasure in reminding them that she had always said kissing his best friend was a good idea. It had also been decided there after, that the 'Remus incident' would never be mentioned again. No one however could come up with a good enough plan, and it didn't help that Avril kept questioning that maybe it was Remus James was really interested in.  
  
Lily had been full of girly excitement when she walked back to her room that night, only to find an owl waiting there for her. She untied the letter from around its leg and watched it fly out of her bedroom window. Lily unrolled the letter and began to read it, it was from her sister Petunia.  
  
Dear Lily,  
  
I have the solemn job of writing to you with bad news. Dad did not feel up to writing this letter. Mum has taken a turn for the worse. The cancer has spread through her body, and the doctors say there is nothing more they can do for her. Dad and I have decided that the best place for her now is at home, so we are collecting her from the hospital on Sunday.  
  
We've also decided that when you come home at Christmas, that it would be good for Dad to come and stay with Vernon and I for a few days, so you could spend some time with Mum. I also think this is a good idea as it will give Dad a break, he has not been well lately himself.  
  
I am very sorry.  
  
Petunia  
  
Lily could see that the letter was tearstained even before she started to cry. Even though they didn't get on very well, it was times like these she was reminded that she and Petunia were still sisters.  
  
It took her over an hour to think of what to write back. When she finally did finish her letter, it was past midnight, but she decided to go to the Owlery and send it straight away.  
  
As she walked along the corridors, with a candle as her only light, she found herself seeing good reason for the 10 o'clock curfew. Hogwarts was not nice by night. In fact it was downright terrifying. Everywhere she went Lily was sure she could hear whisperings and creaks. Everything looked so different in the night, and after twenty minutes she was sure she was lost. She was just about to retrace her steps when a sudden gust of wind blew her candle out. Finding herself immersed in the darkness, she felt an urge to cower against the wall behind a suit of armour. Someone else was there, she could feel it. After a while her eyes got used to the darkness, and she could make shapes and shadows. She couldn't see anybody, but she could hear footsteps, and that drape definitely just moved!  
  
'Lily wise up, you're tired and your mind is playing tricks with you. That's all!'  
  
Or was it? Adding to the footsteps she could now make out heavy breathing, panting almost. She felt herself freeze with fear. Whatever it was, was getting closer.  
  
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," came a whisper.  
  
'No,' Lily thought. 'Your mind didn't just make that up!' The voice sounded like it was barely a few feet away from her, but still she saw no body to accompany it. Deciding it was now or never, Lily found the courage to make a run for it. As soon as she tried to make a dash however, she ran straight into some 'solid' thin air. She watched in horror, as a body materialised out of nowhere, an ornate cloak lying as its feet.  
  
"Uh, would you believe me if I said I was patrolling?" said James Potter.  
  
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countessmel: I'm sorry you're disappointed but I write for myself, and I like the way it's going. I'm sorry you didn't but I respect your decision to stop reading.  
  
BurningIce22: Em I think you kind of missed the fact that the first half of the chapter was all a dream. None of it really happened. Only the bit after James woke up was real.  
  
luvsirius: I know it was a bit strange but dreams are strange. Thanks for reviewing like... every time I post! :D  
  
Oliverwoodschic: You'll find out in the next chapter I promise.  
  
kaleidoscope0-0eyes: Yea I was hoping to catch a few people out with that dream sequence. Make them think I'd lost the plot slightly! At least I know it worked on you!  
  
leanne: Its all right the 6th form is used to your random laughing anyway! As long as you don't put where I live on the Internet I won't mind!  
  
LilyFlower1001: I never even thought of that. It would be kool but it's a bit sinister for my story... at the moment anyway.  
  
Jessie: Ok I think I just found my biggest fan. I'll try to keep them coming but it's a bit hard with my exams. Did you read the other story as well? Cause nobody ever reads the other one.  
  
stephanie: Well done with the whole "Clicking to get to the next chapter" thing. And no "being new at this" doesn't count as an excuse for your stupidity. You have used a computer before right?  
  
sapphire-gurl11: Thank you! If you think my story needs more reviews then TELL EVERYONE YOU KNOW!!  
  
Crazayladay: You'll find out next chapter. So you'll just have to keep reading! :D  
  
Lisa: Lol I wouldn't go so far as to say it's better than all the rest of the Lily/Marauders stories, but hell yea I do rock! Joke!  
  
tougy: You can't be too mad at Moony! He's only human after all.  
  
NaleyScott23: Look I updated! Please don't hurt me! You'll find out next chapter and I know he's a bad boy but you have to forgive him, cause its Remus! 


	14. Boys Talk too!

Ok this chapter is a repeat of the last one only told from James' point of view.  
  
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Chapter 14 : Boys Talk too!  
  
James woke up the next morning at about 6, his head still spinning with the previous nights events. There was only one thing he could do about it now though, and that was damage control. He sat up in his bed and opened the drawer on his bedside table. He searched around under old letters, and some faded photographs until he finally found what he was looking for. He pulled out the small handheld mirror, and wiped it with the sleeve of his pyjamas.  
  
"Padfoot," he whispered to it.  
  
There was no reply.  
  
"Padfoot," he said a bit louder.  
  
There was still no response.  
  
"Sirius Black!" he finally yelled. A very dishevelled, bleary-eyed Sirius appeared in the mirror.  
  
"Morning," he yawned at him.  
  
"Yea morning, Padfoot I need you to do me a favour."  
  
"What?" Sirius asked, whilst rubbing his eyes.  
  
"I need you to make sure Caitlin keeps her mouth shut about last night." Sirius paused and looked at him for a moment. He didn't ask for an explanation, which James was grateful for.  
  
"Sure I'll see what I can do," Sirius said plainly. James knew he would have his work cut out for him. "Is that it?"  
  
"Yea, thanks."  
  
"Good 'cause now I'm going back to sleep." James laughed and watched as Sirius obviously stuffed the mirror back into his drawer. James did the same, but got up instead. He always did his homework early in the morning, when no one would catch him, it gave the impression that he didn't study or do any work at all.  
  
He sat and wrote out a Potions essay, for about an hour, and then decided to go down to get his breakfast. He left his work back into his room and then walked back into the private common room. The sight of Lily Evans almost gave him a heart attack.  
  
'I told Caitlin to take her to the hospital wing!'  
  
"Jeez Evans, you scared me!" Lily laughed at him in response.  
  
"I scared you?" James realised how stupid he must look. In truth it wasn't Lily that had scared him, it was the fact Caitlin had not done what he had asked her to. He knew then that Sirius wasn't going to have any luck with her.  
  
"Yea well, I wasn't expecting you to be..." He paused, he couldn't let her know where he was expecting her to be, it would give it away. "How are you feeling?" he asked instead.  
  
"I'm fine," she replied, sounding annoyed. She obviously wasn't 'fine', she looked like death warmed up. James thought it was best to leave this conversation here, and avoid any awkward questions.  
  
"That's good. See you later." He quickly left the room, he heard Lily call something after him, but ignored it and shut the lion cub portrait firmly behind him.  
  
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When he arrived down in the Great Hall he saw that the only Marauder there was Peter. He didn't ask about the whereabouts of the other two.  
  
"Morning Wormtail," he said, trying to sound casual, and not give away that he was thinking about the previous night.  
  
"Prongs," Peter replied. James noticed a strange glint in his eyes, like the hungry look he'd seen in him last night. He decided to ignore it and started buttering some toast. It was a while before Peter spoke again. "Prongs, last night," he asked nervously. "Where you going to hit Remus?" As he finished, a smile flickered across his face, and his cheeks flushed.  
  
James swallowed the toast he was eating hard, and looked sternly at him.  
  
"No Wormtail, I was not." Peter cowered slightly from him as he spoke. "I would never do that to one of my friends."  
  
"But he made you mad though didn't he?" Peter said sounding hopeful.  
  
"No," James replied flatly. "I just wanted to stop him making a fool out of himself."  
  
"Yes but..." Peter began whining.  
  
"Wormtail, I don't want to talk about it. Alright?" Peter agreed, and they both finished their breakfast in silence.  
  
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James' first class that day was Defence against the Dark Arts. It was by far his favourite subject. He passionately loathed the Dark Arts, the only other job he had thought about seriously, apart from Professional Quidditch, was becoming an Auror. He also loved the fact that he got Lily all to himself in this class. At the start it had been so he could torture her continuously, without Caitlin trying to stop him, now it was so he could just be beside her, and watch the way she crinkled her nose up when she didn't understand something.  
  
Today however he knew he couldn't sit beside her. He had no idea if Caitlin had caught up with her yet, and he couldn't let himself spend an hour trying to analyse her every move – he needed to concentrate on the class. When he entered he saw she was there already, he quickly dragged his stool to the opposite end of the bench from her, and sat down.  
  
'I hope that was discreet.' He couldn't bring himself to look round to see if Lily had noticed, so kept his head straight ahead, looking at the teacher. He didn't even look round again when he heard Remus sit hurriedly down beside him.  
  
"Morning," he said stiffly.  
  
"Morning," Remus replied warily. The both sat in silence, usually they would make small talk, but neither one of them thought it was appropriate today. "James about last night." Remus had decided to get straight to it, in a way James was glad he had. "Are you still mad at me?"  
  
James turned round to face him. He saw that Remus was looking at him like the younger pupils did, waiting for his decision with trepidation. He didn't like this at all, Remus was his friend, his equal, and he couldn't treat him like this.  
  
"Moony seriously it's ok," he said trying to sound sincere. Obviously it wasn't enough to convince Remus, who still felt he had to prove himself.  
  
"It's just... I don't know what happened. I think I just... gave into the moment," he finished dramatically. James couldn't help but laugh.  
  
"Truthfully Moony, all is forgiven," he said, placing his hand on Remus' shoulder.  
  
"You know I don't like Lily like that, don't you? I realised that the moment I kissed her," Remus said looking directly into his eyes.  
  
James was unable to hold his gaze and turned away.  
  
"Why would I care?" he mumbled pathetically. He heard the classroom door open behind him, and heard Sirius come in. He knew he was in his spot, and felt Sirius' eyes burn into the back of his head. He sat rigid in his seat, and returned his concentration back to the lesson.  
  
About 15 minutes later he could hold it in no longer. He had come to a realisation, and decided the noble thing to do was to confess to Remus, and let the poor guy off the hook. He cleared his throat.  
  
"Well Moony, at least there was one good thing that came out of you kissing Evans." Remus looked round him a bit startled at his sudden outburst.  
  
"What?" he replied, amazed that James could see anything good come out of this.  
  
"It gave me a wake up call." James watched as Remus' face changed from one of intrigued to realisation.  
  
"You mean...?"  
  
"I like Lily Evans," James said burying his head in his hands, he wanted the ground to swallow him up. 'Why did I just tell him that?'  
  
'Because he's your friend, and you couldn't let him go on thinking you were only mad at him because you thought he was some pervert who took advantage of vulnerable women,' a voice in his head answered.  
  
Remus placed his hand on his back.  
  
"See mate, that was my plan all along," he said trying to sound full of his usual wisdom. James looked up at him and gave him a sarcastic glare. They both laughed. He was aware of some other commotion in the classroom but was too caught up in the fact he had just confessed to Remus, to paid it any attention.  
  
When the class ended shortly afterwards, James was surprised to see Lily stop Sirius to thank him for something. James and Remus were both really curious, and luckily Sirius proceeded to tell them what it was about as soon as they were out of Lily's earshot.  
  
"Snivellus was giving her bother in class," Sirius explained bitterly.  
  
"What did he do?" Remus asked, concerned.  
  
"Wrote her a letter, disgusting it was, talking about how he was going to spit on her charred remains when Voldemort got her." Remus and Sirius both grabbed an arm each to stop James from charging back down the corridor again.  
  
"I want to make sure she's ok," he protested, trying to wriggle feel of their hold.  
  
"She's fine," Sirius said, still holding tightly to him. "She didn't read it, I picked it up before her." James wriggled even more furiously.  
  
"Well then at least let me go and curse the putrid scum!"  
  
"Prongs will you wise up, you know you can go hexing him in public anymore, you're head boy! Besides I sorted him out already. Seriously mate what's got into to you?" Sirius looked at him bewildered. James threw a glance at Remus, as if to say 'not a word'. He didn't want to tell Sirius yet, although Sirius was probably the most important person to him in the whole world, he couldn't take the raking.  
  
After he calmed down a bit, Remus and Sirius both let go of him, and they all started off to their next class – Care of Magical Creatures.  
  
-----------------  
  
After that the day was pretty uneventful until they got to lunchtime. They had spent their day larking about in class, and basically having a good laugh. They were all in high spirits, especially Sirius who was being particularly exuberant, and it felt just like old times again. This was probably because it was full moon tonight, the Marauders favourite time of month.  
  
Yes, everything had been fine right up until Caitlin had stormed into the Great Hall, and brushed straight past them to Lily. Sirius who had been laughing hard at one of James' jokes, stopped that instant and sat perfectly still, like a dog that'd just caught the scent of danger.  
  
"Uh Padfoot?" James asked warily.  
  
"Yea we broke up this morning," Sirius answered in a monotone voice. "Oh and by the way," he added, mockingly cheerily. "She's going to tell Lily."  
  
Remus went a deadly shade of pale, heightened by the fact he was already looking peaky due to the full moon. James felt a strange sensation, like he had just been shot, run through him.  
  
None of the Marauders spoke again, but listened intently to see if they could hear anything that might indicate whether Caitlin was going to tell Lily or not. At first it seemed like the two girls were just talking normally. Maybe Caitlin was going to keep her mouth shut after all. The atmosphere between the Marauders began to relax a little. It wasn't until Lily gave out a cry that could only be described as a suffocated yelp, that Remus hit his forehead off the table, and James' hands began to sweat profusely.  
  
They all listened again, but noticed that after a while Lily's cry of mirth, turned into girly giggles. They looked around at each other with bewildered looks on their faces. Why did Lily find this amusing? It wasn't until she and Caitlin walked past them out of the hall, some 10 minutes later that something dawned on James.  
  
'Oh God she's smiling because she's glad she kissed Remus. She fancies Remus!'  
  
He sat glumly until Remus announced that he was leaving to go and find Madam Pompfrey, to take him down to the Shrieking Shack. Sirius and Peter left soon after that, fed up with James' sudden solemn mood.  
  
Finding him alone again, James' avid fans made their approach, in the lead was some Ravenclaw 5th year.  
  
"Why so sad James?" she tried to say seductively. "I thought the potion I made for Evans would have made you happy?" James looked round at her, his face contorted with rage again.  
  
"You did this?" he spat.  
  
"Yes," the Ravenclaw replied, a little unsure of herself now. "I thought you would find it funny."  
  
"Why?! Why would I find this funny?"  
  
"B-b-because," she was starting to stutter now. "I thought you'd find it amusing to see Evans flaunting herself over all the boys, instead of her usual stuck-up self."  
  
"Right that's it," James yelled, rising up from the table. "Detention for a week!" The Ravenclaw and all of his other fans looked flabbergasted – they didn't bother him again after that.  
  
-----------------  
  
Later that night, James was very glad that one of his best friends was a werewolf. The excitement of spending another three nights, running round the school grounds as a fully-grown stag, was taking his mind off his terrible day.  
  
As he walked down to the Whomping Willow, under his invisibility cloak with Sirius, they excitedly planned the night's events. Peter, being able to turn into a rat, was small enough to travel without the cover of the invisibility cloak, and ran a few feet in front of them. It was only when James saw the Willow freeze, that he remembered he'd forgotten something.  
  
"Bugger Padfoot, I've forgotten the map."  
  
"You serious?"  
  
"Nah mate, you're Sirius." The joke was old, but always funny.  
  
"It's alright, we'll just go back up and get it," Sirius said after he had finished laughing. Just at that moment there was a painful howl in the distance.  
  
"No listen you go on ahead, he's tearing the place apart in there. You go and calm him down, I'll go get the map." With that Sirius nodded, and James watched as he transformed into a huge, black dog in front of him, and ran off into the trunk of the Willow.  
  
James was able to run back into his room and find the map with no problems. It was only when he was making his way back to the grounds that he had the distinct impression he wasn't alone.  
  
He had definitely heard footsteps, walking down the corridor in front of him, but they had now stopped and he couldn't see anyone that they might belong to. He slowed his jog down to a walk, and found himself slightly out of breath. He didn't mind himself making too much noise; he couldn't see anyone around of him, and he was pretty sure he was the only student in the school with an invisibility cloak. He decided to take out the map and check it, just to see where the person who's footsteps he had heard had gone to. He stopped, took it out of his pocket, and tapped it with his wand.  
  
"I solemnly swear I am up to no good," he whispered.  
  
The map hadn't materialised on the blank piece of parchment before he felt someone run straight into his left side. He turned round, map still in his hand, to see a horrified Lily Evans staring straight at him. The invisibility cloak lay at his feet.  
  
"Uh, would you believe me if I said I was patrolling?"  
  
-----------------  
  
Oh dear, I seem to be losing readers left, right and centre. This will be my last update for at least 2 weeks. I have lots of Math Exams coming up. Basically this story is going to get pretty fluffy around Christmas time, and then pretty sinister thereafter, I plan to finish it at the end of their 7th year. If you don't like the sound of that then by all means stop reading now, if you do, then add me to your author alerts and you'll get told when I do eventually update again. Anyway here are some comments for my remaining readers:  
  
BurningIce22: I was going to keep it a secret from her, but then I thought it was more fun for Lily to know that James liked her, and James not to know she liked him. Leads to more chaos!  
  
luvsirius: Lol yea it does. It makes me want to update sooner as well. Which is unfortunate at the moment because now I'm going to fail all of exams cause I haven't revised enough!  
  
kaleidoscope0-0eyes: It was a bit of a girly chapter wasn't it? Petunia's not exactly nice, but their mother is dying so I couldn't make her out to be a complete bitch. You'll see her return to her nasty ways in future chapters.  
  
Crazayladay: Look I updated the next day! Is that ok? Don't worry people give me and my mates weird looks all the time, when we're reading this in school.  
  
NaleyScott23: Well you didn't exactly find out what happened next, but I just thought it would be funny to see the same day from James' POV.  
  
Carmel March: You think I'm funny? Yeay! 


	15. The Grim

Ok big horrible maths exam over with. Nice, tiny, easy maths exam next week. I'm taking a break from revising to update.  
  
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Chapter 15 : The Grim  
  
Lily sat looking at James aghast for what felt like an eternity. She was too stunned to answer his question aloud, although obviously she didn't believe he was patrolling. A million questions flooded into her mind, she felt them physically weighing her head down. She looked down at the floor, trying to steady her spinning head, and something caught her eye. She finally found her speech again.  
  
"Is that a - "  
  
"Invisibly cloak. Yes," James finished for her. He was looking at her, his face still frozen in fear, and was holding an old piece of parchment in his hand.  
  
"You have a - "  
  
"Invisibly cloak. Yes," he finished again. His voice was strange. It didn't match the fear that was showing in his face, instead he sounded gentle, as if trying not to saturate Lily with information.  
  
"So the noises, the breathing, that was you under your - "  
  
"Invisibility cloak. Yes." The third time he said it, it hit a nerve with Lily and she stood up, suddenly back in fighting form.  
  
"Don't you patronise me Potter. I've got enough stuff on you now for Dumbledore to take away your badge," she spat at him. Just then a painful howl came from far in the distance, followed by a short, sharp, angry bark, which seemed much closer. Lily turned away from James to lean out the window behind her, and see where the noise had come from.  
  
"Trust me Evans, at the moment by badge is the least of my worries," James said in an undertone. Lily wasn't sure she was meant to have heard it, so she ignored him. Suddenly he came and leant out the window beside her. "What are you looking for anyway?" he asked casually, though Lily noticed that his hands were gripping tightly to the window ledge.  
  
"Hmmm... The noise..." she mumbled, her eyes still searching the ground below her intently.  
  
"What noise? I didn't hear any noise," James added briskly but Lily cut him off.  
  
"Look! There!" she yelled pointing excitedly out the window. "I knew it was him." She drew James' attention to a large, shaggy, black dog, which was sitting perfectly still, just on the outskirts of the forest. "Snuffles," she stated simply.  
  
"Snuffles?" Lily laughed at James' shock. He obviously thought it was ridiculous to have such a cute name for such a large, and unruly looking dog.  
  
"Yea... Well that's what Caitlin and I call him anyway. I don't he has a real name, he's a stray I think. Lives in the forest, I suppose. Haven't you ever seen him before?"  
  
"No," James replied sharply. "Have you?"  
  
"Oh yes, only for a few years though. Very occasionally and always at night. Caitlin and I used to sit up in our dorm, waiting, hoping we would catch a glimpse of him. We recorded all the times we did, it's so interesting to watch him, behaves very unusually for a dog. What do u think he - " She turned round expecting James to still be at the window beside her, instead she found that he had taken a few steps back. He was standing scratching his head, and staring hard at the floor. He looked up when he realised Lily had turned round; she noticed beads of sweat on his forehead as he did so.  
  
"So you've been watching out of your dorm window every night for a few years?" Despite his appearance his voice remained gentle and calm.  
  
"Well no not every night no, I don't really like staying up late. We only did it when Caitlin suggested it. She always seemed to sense when he would appear."  
  
"I bet she did," James said quietly. It was a long time before anyone spoke next. Lily was absorbed by the memories of all the times she had seen the mysterious dog. To her he had always represented a freedom she had never had, she had always longed to join him and go to wherever he hid from the rest of the world. How apt that he should appear to her tonight. "Uh... Evans..." said James breaking the silence cautiously. "Have you ever seen anything else late at night?"  
  
"No," said Lily simply, she noticed James' stance relax slightly. "Just him," she continued. "God he's beautiful isn't he?" Right on cue the dog gave another sharp bark. Lily turned to gaze out of the window at him again. "Do you think if I go down there he'd let me stroke him? Cait would be so jealous..." She suddenly felt James' hand round her wrist, gently leading her away from the window.  
  
"Evans don't, for all you know he could be dangerous," he said earnestly.  
  
"Awh Potter, you worrying about me?" she said teasingly. She couldn't help but feel a little girly flourish run through her, with him worrying about her safety, and them practically holding hands.  
  
"Evans just promise me you won't go near that dog." His calm voice was being to become shakier. "In fact look away immediately when you see it, it could be a grim!!"  
  
Lily laughed again.  
  
"Potter, you're not trying to tell me you actually believe in all that superstitious, fortune-telling mumbo-jumbo!"  
  
"Just promise me ok?!" His calm voice was long forgotten now, and his grip on her wrist was beginning to hurt her. Something inside Lily snapped.  
  
"Why should I promise you ANYTHING?!" she screamed at him. She didn't care that it was the middle of the night and she was probably going to wake up half the castle. All she cared about was taking out her frustration on James Potter. The frustration that every time she thought they were getting closer, he would mess it up again. The frustration that every time she let her guard down and tried to show him she was interested he would completely ignore it. The frustration that she had just tried to flirt with him 20 seconds ago and he had ignored it – AGAIN! The frustration of the torture she received in school for being a muggle-born. The frustration of the torture she received at home for being a witch. The frustration that her sister Petunia was right, that even with all her 'fancy magic', her mum was dying and there was nothing she could do to stop it. Oh yes, she was in the mood for a good fight now.  
  
"Maybe because I KNOW that dog and I KNOW he's dangerous!" he roared back at her, still holding to her tightly.  
  
"YOU JUST SAID YOU'D NEVER SEEN IT BEFORE!"  
  
"WELL MAYBE I LIED!"  
  
"WELL MAYBE THAT'S ALL YOU EVER DO! MAYBE ALL YOU DO IS LIE AND CHEAT AND... and... give people false hope," she finished quietly. James was standing looking at her completely stunned, he had let go of her wrist.  
  
"What do you mean fa - "  
  
Lily knew she didn't want him to finish that question.  
  
"What's that?" she asked quickly, indicating the piece of parchment still grasped in his other hand.  
  
"Nothing," he replied just as quick.  
  
"Give it to me," she commanded.  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Because if it's nothing then you wouldn't mind me seeing it."  
  
"But why would you want to see it? It's just nothing."  
  
'God,' Lily thought. 'For Head Boy and one of the most intelligent wizards in Hogwarts, he can be such a child.'  
  
"Look hand it over, I'm confiscating it." He may be getting on like a child, but Lily was glad he was playing along and ignoring her previous outburst.  
  
"But that's just silly, why would you want to confiscate nothing?"  
  
"Because I'm Head Girl and I can do whatever I want!" She could be just as childish as he could.  
  
"Seriously Evans, it's a picture of me in a very compromising position, you really don't want to see it."  
  
"I'll be the judge of that. Give it here!" James grudgingly admitted defeat and handed the parchment over. Lily at once saw that it was indeed not 'nothing'. Her brain was just beginning to unscramble the lines and dots she saw before her, when James gave such a loud gasp that she jumped and looked back at him.  
  
"What's that?!" he gasped again, pointing at the piece of parchment he had just given Lily.  
  
"Potter... what? You just..." She didn't know what he was playing at but she didn't like where it was going.  
  
"Give it here," he said with authority.  
  
"What?!" Lily shrieked, completely dumbstruck.  
  
"By order of the Head Boy, appointed by Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Order of Merlin First Class, I hereby decree, that thou shall relinquish such property of Messrs Moony, Padfoot, Prongs and Wormtail. In other words – yoink!"  
  
With that he snatched the piece of parchment out of Lily's hands, whipped the invisibility cloak round himself, and disappeared completely from sight. Lily stood staring in disbelief down the corridor where she could hear his footsteps running away. She didn't know if she was infuriated or impressed.  
  
-----------------  
  
Angry as she was at James Potter for making such a fool out of her, she could not help but feel a little grateful to him as well. For a few fleeting moments his antics had taken her mind off the letter from Petunia, but when she awoke the next morning Lily found it was all she could think about.  
  
As she walked slowly down to breakfast, the realisation hit her that she had been so caught up in the events last night, that she had forgotten to ask James what he was actually doing. She felt relieved she had found something else to take her mind off the letter, and quickened her step. She found Caitlin sitting in their usual spot with Alice and Scarlet at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall. As she approached them she noticed that they were giggling to each other. This was not unusual, what was unusual however was that all the girls in the Hall seemed to be doing the exact same thing. As she looked closer, Lily noticed that all the boys in the hall seemed less amused, some of them in fact looked quite green.  
  
"What's going on?" Lily inquired as she sat down beside Caitlin.  
  
"Ball," Caitlin managed before bursting into another fit of giggles.  
  
"Dumbledore announced it this morning, its on Christmas Day," said Alice adding a bit more information.  
  
"But that's like a whole 2 months away. Why is everyone getting so excited about it now?" said Lily exasperatedly.  
  
"OH LILY!" Scarlet squealed giving her a playful shove across the table. "Get into the spirit of it a bit more! That's a whole two months of dresses, and hair, and makeup, and most importantly who's going to ask who!" she said with another squeal. The three of them fell about the place in another bout of excitable giggles, leaving Lily looking on astonished.  
  
"But you lot already have boyfriends! You already know who you're going with!"  
  
"I don't," snapped Caitlin. That was true Lily concurred, but she was sure Caitlin and Sirius would be back together by Christmas. "Anyway wouldn't matter if I did, Sirius hates balls, he wouldn't go with me anyway."  
  
"Don't all guys?" asked Alice reasonably.  
  
"Well no, my Robbie loves them," objected Scarlet. "He'll look so good in dress robes," she added dreamily.  
  
"And I know James is partial to a formal dance every now and then," added Caitlin. The three girls all turned to Lily and grinned mischievously. Watching them something suddenly dawned on her.  
  
"Oh my – That's what you've been giggling about?!" she asked of them.  
  
"Oh but Lily what if he asks you?" Scarlet squealed again.  
  
"When he asks you," Alice corrected her.  
  
"Sorry, when he asks you," Scarlet agreed. "It'll be so perfect, you'll get together on Christmas Day!"  
  
"Don't you think that's a bit of a cliché?" came the voice of Avril Knight as she sat down beside Lily.  
  
"No," said Caitlin sternly to her. "It's just hopelessly romantic!" she added more sweetly to Lily.  
  
All this talk of Balls and Dresses and Partners, had thrown Lily completely off her train of thought, and it wasn't until the Marauders walked into the hall that remembered she had to tell Caitlin about last night. As she watched them walk down the Hall and take a seat at the table, she noticed how all of them looked dishevelled and weary. Another thought struck her. Had they all been running about the castle late last night? Did they all have invisibility cloaks? She thought she better discuss it with the girls.  
  
"You'll never guess who I saw last night!" she said, grasping Caitlin's arm to get her attention. She then continued to retell the previous nights events in every detail, omitting the part about the letter – she wasn't ready to tell them yet. The girls all listened intently, and no one spoke again until she had completely finished.  
  
"Well?" she asked, hoping for their analysis.  
  
"He has an invisibility cloak?" asked Avril, sounding disgusted. "God knows where he's been. What he's seen even!" she said crossing her arms over her chest.  
  
"Rest assured he wasn't looking at you anyway," Alice said scathingly to her.  
  
"What do you think Cait?" Lily asked, trying to ignore Avril.  
  
"You told him about Snuffles?" asked Caitlin timidly. Her face was ashen, and she looked like she could be sick at any moment. "You told him about us watching Snuffles?"  
  
Lily was stopped from giving her an answer by a commotion further on down the table. They all turned to see people jumping up from their seats, and placing their hands over their mouth and noses. It would appear that Remus Lupin had just thrown up over his breakfast.  
  
"I have to go," said Caitlin suddenly, and she scurried from the Great Hall. Lily watched as Sirius sprinted out after her, and Peter helped Remus out, presumably taking him to the hospital wing.  
  
It was some 15 minutes later when James finally decided to leave. He must have noticed Scarlet and Alice's eyes following him the whole way up the hall, because he felt obliged to acknowledge them as he past.  
  
"Ladies," he said as he dipped his head towards them.  
  
"James," Scarlet and Alice replied in unison. Lily could have murdered them on the spot. She was glad she had her back to James, because she was sure she was a deep shape of crimson.  
  
"You didn't make that half obvious," she hissed at them.  
  
They simply giggled at her in reply.  
  
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Ok I'm noticing people are reviewing saying how much they want me to update, and then not putting me onto author alerts. I'm not being cocky, but I just think it's easier to keep track of stories if you do that. I have all the stories I read on author alert. Just a small point.  
  
Anyway hope you enjoyed that chapter. I'll probably update again tomorrow.  
  
**BurningIce22:** I'm glad I haven't lost you. Sorry I didn't update sooner. Thank you fro reviewing!  
  
**luvsirius:** Thanks for increasing those review numbers again :D  
  
**kaleidoscope0-0eyes:** Thanks for caring about my exams! I hope I do well on them too! I think I might do that whole 2 POV thing again in a few chapters time so hopefully you'll enjoy it!  
  
**Crazayladay:** Ok I updated a bit before 2 weeks! I hope you haven't gone on your trip yet! I'll probably update again tomorrow, just to make up for my absence. Enjoy your tour!  
  
**Carmel March:** Ok I'm sorry I can't really answer your question because that would give away the basic plot of the story. Keep reading and you'll find out!  
  
**stephanie:** Lol "shaweet to the beat"? Your cameo is coming don't worry!  
  
**james was a chaser:** See the physics was fine wasn't it! I was thinking of writing in the whole "I don't smell like musk" thing. What do you think?  
  
**LilyFlower1001:** Thanks for reviewing! Thanks for the luck I will need it!  
  
**Teva:** I usually update more often than this, but I have exams at the moment. I know I hate it when people take ages to update too. I hate it more when they stop writing perfectly good stories and just leave you hanging there more though!  
  
**nightwanderer:** Yeay I made someone laugh!  
  
**picklesniper:** Happy Birthday! Ok you may have a play but I have life altering exams to deal with so don't say I don't have an excuse not to update more! I will take that cake though :D  
  
**mcbgurl12:** I think so too.  
  
**LadyofRavindor:** Sorry for the confusion. Now at least you know what happened next. Thanks for reviewing and please keep going with your story!  
  
**Heck E. Nah:** Ok... what?  
  
**Oliverwoodschic:** I'm not telling you what happens with Caitlin and Sirius but the next chapter is going to be just them, not Lily or James. I know you wanted more of them in it! 


	16. Caitlin and Sirius

Ok this chapter is going to be between Caitlin and Sirius. I know it's meant to be a Lily and James story but this is the only way I can get the plot to move on. It'll flick between Caitlin and Sirius' POV. Hopefully you'll be able to follow it. I'll get to James' bit next chapter.

* * *

Chapter 16 : Caitlin and Sirius  
  
Sirius was running. And Sirius never ran. Looking to be in a hurry completely wrecked his haughty, bored, 'I'm too cool to give a stuff' image. The truth was he was too angry now, 'to give a stuff' about his image. He was livid.  
  
James had arrived late down to the Shrieking Shack last night – extremely late. Sirius had got tired of waiting for him and Remus was getting restless. He though he would probably be able to manage Remus out round the grounds by himself, but he didn't want to risk it – two large animals where definitely better to keep him in check, than one. He decided to go and see what was keeping James, so he sat just beside the Whomping Willow, and gave a few barks to hurry James up a bit.  
  
When James finally did arrive, he transformed straight into a stag and bolted down the tunnel under the Whomping Willow. Sirius followed. They couldn't communicate as animals, but he could sense something was wrong. Once inside the Shrieking Shack, James indicated that they would be staying there for the night, but it was not until the next morning at breakfast that he explained why.  
  
Remus, already peaky due to the full moon, had thrown up as soon as James had told them. Caitlin had been encouraging Lily to spy on them for years. Sirius couldn't believe it.  
  
'Snuffles?!' the voice inside his head screamed, as he continued to sprint to the Gryffindor Tower. 'Snuffles?!' Snuffles was a pet name that Caitlin used for him in person, she used it in front of people. She used it in front of Lily. Lily was smart, it wouldn't take her that long to work it out.  
  
'Why would she do this?!' his thoughts screamed again. His fury was incensed even further when he caught a glimpse of Caitlin's robes whipping into the portrait hole, and slamming the Fat Lady behind her.  
  
"Eagle's Wing!" he said sharply to the Fat Lady, and she swung open again. He arrived into the empty common room, the rest of the house was still at breakfast. He marched over to the bottom of the staircase that led to the Girl's Dorms.  
  
"Caitlin!" he roared up them.  
  
"What?!" came Caitlin's defiant voice, echoing back down.  
  
Was she standing at her doorway, or on the stairs? He took a chance and carefully placed his foot on the bottom stair. At once a loud horn went off, and the stairs turned into a smooth, stone slide. His chance paid off and Caitlin arrived, slumped at his feet.  
  
"You animal!" she screamed, standing up and flattening out her robes.  
  
"Yes well, you'd know all about that," he sneered at her. She slapped hard across the face, but he didn't even wince.  
  
"What do you want anyway? Chasing me up here?!" she spat.  
  
"You know exactly what I want! I want to know!" he spat back. "Cait, why did you do it?" he almost pleaded.  
  
She gave no answer but simply folded her arms, and looked away from him.  
  
-----------------  
  
Caitlin could feel the tears welling up in her eyes, but there was no way she was going to let him see her cry. No, this was not her fault, it was his! He couldn't see the pressure he was putting her under, he was too stubborn to realise how she might be feeling.  
  
"Cait, do you see what you've done? Did you see what you did to Remus this morning? It's already full moon at the moment, he doesn't need anymore stress!" he roared at her again. He paused, looking at her in disbelief. She didn't turn to face him, she couldn't, it was getting harder to stop the tears. "How could you let her spy on us? What if she had seen? What if she had found out? She could have reported us! Do you know what would happen then? DO YOU?!" He stretched his arms out towards her, and collected himself a bit. "Cait, how could you do this to me? To my best friends?" he finished, his voice a bit calmer.  
  
Caitlin broke. Those were the words. She knew he was going to say them, but for a moment there she had hoped that he wouldn't have. That he would have realised. Nope. Not Sirius. Still old clueless Sirius.  
  
"You and your best friends," she whispered bitterly. "YOU AND YOUR BEST FRIENDS!" she said again in a high-pitched shriek. Sirius took a few steps back, he clearly hadn't expected this outburst. Caitlin turned to face him, all the time making flamboyant gestures with her arms.  
  
"What about me? Huh Si? What about me and my best friend? Lily is my BEST FRIEND! And I've had to lie to her for well over a year, just to keep your dirty little SECRET! Do you know what it feels like? Every time she asks me about you, where you are, what you're doing, and I have to lie back to her? She knows! Deep down she knows there's something up! And it kills me that I can't tell her, and she thinks I can't trust her! Do you know what that feels like?  
  
"But no you don't know what it feels like at all, do you Si? Because you've never had to keep anything from your friends! Oh no, not your precious friends! There's no secrets between the Marauders! You'd do anything to keep them happy! You know the only reason you're up here now is to tell me off, make sure I won't tell, not to try and reconcile with me, not try and make up with _me_. You know sometimes I feel the only reason you go out with me is to keep me quiet. When we break up you're only worried about me blabbing, you don't even miss me," she finished quietly.  
  
"You know that's not true," Sirius whispered. "I... I..." Caitlin knew what he was trying to say. He'd always managed to wrangle himself out of saying it before, usually she let him off, not this time though.  
  
"You what?" she snapped.  
  
"I love you, alright?" he snapped back.  
  
"God you're so romantic," said Caitlin sarcastically.  
  
"Is that it?" Sirius asked disbelievingly. "You're not even going to say it back?"  
  
"Why should I?" said Caitlin defiantly.  
  
"Well I suppose why should you," said Sirius glumly. He sat down on one of the sofas in front of the fire, with his back to Caitlin. "You probably don't love me." Caitlin couldn't help but feel herself feeling a bit sorry for him at these words. Perhaps she was being a bit harsh with him. "I mean obviously you don't love me, because you promised me you wouldn't tell Lily, and if you loved me you wouldn't break your promise." His head slumped as he finished, he was more talking to himself than Caitlin. She couldn't help but feel he looked like a little, lost boy.  
  
-----------------  
  
Sirius was indeed very glum that he had just opened himself to Caitlin and she had thrown it back at him, but he was still putting on a bit of an act as well. He pouted his lower lip a bit for effect. It seemed to work because Caitlin placed herself gently down beside him on the sofa.  
  
"Si I didn't break my promise. I didn't tell her. I was just... giving her a push in the right direction." Sirius looked at her, lip still pouted. She lifted his arm and put it round her. "I'm sorry," she said, pouting her lip as well, he knew she knew he was acting – the game was up.  
  
"I'm sorry too," he admitted, and pulled her a little closer. She resisted.  
  
"Friends?" she asked suddenly.  
  
'What?!' Sirius' thoughts must have shown on his face.  
  
"I think it's better this way," Caitlin added quickly, and she lifted his arm from round her and scooted further away from him on the couch.  
  
'Right,' he thought. 'If she's talking about just being friends then there is going to have to be some drastic action.'  
  
"Cait," he said cautiously. "Do you want to go to the ball with me?" Caitlin sat up straight and looked round at him stunned.  
  
"But you... hate balls," she stuttered.  
  
'I know,' said a gritted voice in his head.  
  
"Yea but I reckon I would have a good time if I was with you," he said giving her a look he knew made her all of a flutter. She looked away from him again quickly, ignoring his gaze.  
  
"As friends?" she said teasingly. Sirius could take it no longer.  
  
"Yea as friends that are dating," he stated simply. He noticed Caitlin flash him a mischievous grin. "You're winding me up aren't you?" he asked, realisation dawning on him. She nodded and scooted back under his arm, her head resting on his chest. They lay there in silence for a while, snuggling up on the sofa.  
  
Sirius lay enjoying the fact he had got her back, until a sinking feeling gripped him.  
  
"Uh you realise you still can't tell Lily?" he asked shutting his eyes tightly, waiting for the row to start again.  
  
"I know," sighed Caitlin, sitting up slightly. Sirius relaxed. "I still don't like it though!" she added.  
  
"I know, but we just don't know how she'll react. We can't risk it." Caitlin put her head back on his chest and didn't respond. "Look are there any secrets you have that you'd like me to keep from my friends? Even the score a bit?" He was trying to show her he had actually taken in the things she had shouted at him.  
  
"Well nothing that could land me or my friends in Azkaban, no," she said sarcastically. Sirius glared at her. Caitlin sat up again and bit her lip, she was obviously deciding whether to tell Sirius something or not.  
  
"Go on," said Sirius slowly.  
  
"Well... Oh no I don't think I can. Lily would kill me," Caitlin explained. Sirius gave her another glare, put his right hand over his heart.  
  
"Lily will never find out I swear," he said mockingly.  
  
"Ok," said Caitlin, sitting cross-legged on the sofa beside him, she took his two hands in hers so they were face to face. "Lily likes James," she squealed.  
  
Sirius looked at her dumbfounded for a moment. This was something she though was on a power with his best friend being a werewolf, and the others being illegal animagi?  
  
'God women are weird' he thought.  
  
Caitlin was sitting looking at him expectantly, so he decided he better fain interest.  
  
"Oh my God!" he squealed back at her, clapping his hands together. Then he leant back into the sofa and rolled his eyes slightly.  
  
"You're missing the point," Caitlin moaned, lifting his arm and shaking it a bit. "James likes Lily!" Sirius was unimpressed yet again.  
  
"Cait, no he doesn't, that's all just a bit of a laugh for him, trust me," he said, lying back further, and closing his eyes, he was still exhausted from being up all night with Remus.  
  
"No it's not anymore! Haven't you noticed the fact that he's stopped asking her out?" Caitlin said anxiously.  
  
"Oooooo... he's stopped asking her out, that _must_ mean he likes her!" he said sarcastically.  
  
"Look there's other stuff as well! Believe me James likes Lily!" Caitlin whined. Sirius was starting to get a bit fed up with this now, all he really wanted to do was for her to put her head on his chest again, so he could hold her as he fell asleep.  
  
"Right well, does Lily know this?" he yawned, putting his arm round her and pulling her back over towards him.  
  
"Yes," said Caitlin, giving in and resting her head against him.  
  
"Well then why can't I tell James? It would save a lot of time," he said wearily.  
  
"No," said Caitlin sharply.  
  
"Why not?" he whined. He didn't understand the way women thought at the best of times, but especially not when he was this tired.  
  
"Because you promised," Caitlin pointed out, just as the portrait hole opened. Sirius turned his head slightly, and opened one bleary eye to see who it was. He yawned and gave James a weary salute as he passed.  
  
"Yea," James laughed. "Heading that way myself," he said pointing towards the staircase that led to his bedroom. He prompted skipped up them, and out of sight.  
  
"Yea well I won't tell him," Sirius said once he knew James was out of earshot. "I'll just give him 'a push in the right direction.'" With that he fell into a sound sleep.

* * *

Ok it's back to James' POV next chapter. Hope you liked that little aside though.  
  
Just to keep you all up to date:  
  
Lily likes James.

James likes Lily.

Lily knows she likes James.

James knows he likes Lily.

All the Gryffindor 7th year girls know Lily likes James and James likes Lily.

Sirius and Remus know that James likes Lily but only Sirius knows that Lily likes James.

James knows that Remus knows that he likes Lily, but he doesn't know that Sirius knows, neither does Lily, in fact only Caitlin knows that.

And just to add further confusion James thinks that Lily likes Remus but he hasn't told anyone that he thinks this, but he knows that Remus doesn't like Lily.

Peter doesn't know anything. He's a rat!

* * *

**luvsirius**: Thanks again my ultimate faithful reviewer! By the way, are you going to write again any time soon? Your last fanfic was excellent I really think you should do another one!  
  
**Crazayladay**: Lol, look I updated again before Sunday!! I have my own idea of what's going to happen when Lily finally tells someone about the letter. You'll have to keep reading to find out. Emm in my story no Remus doesn't like anybody, well he probably does, but he's not going to get anyone, sorry! He's too busy trying to deal with the whole 'teenage werewolf' thing, so he has a hard time getting close to anyone because he's not sure he can trust them. This reflects on the other Marauder's relationships as well as you've just seen, girlfriends ask too many questions! So they all just tend to have wee flings and then drop them when they get too close – that's James and Sirius by the way, Peter's never had a girlfriend because he's a loser. This is the way it was until Sirius started with Caitlin. God that's a lot of background information you probably didn't want to know. Auck well there you go anyway!  
  
**nightwanderer**: Yea I am proud, chapter 12 was meant to make people laugh but I don't think some people approved. Awh well, that's just my sense of humour I suppose!  
  
**mcbgurl12**: Wow thank you, but if this is the first one about the Marauders you've read I suggest you read the ones on my favourite stories link on my profile, they are really, really good too! But don't forget about mine!  
  
**Heck** **E**. **Nah**: Oh right, well that chapter was weird yeah, but I was just in one of those moods. For your other question, see above.  
  
**b.o.r.e.d-h.e.l.l-y.e.h**: Thanks for putting me on alert! Glad you like my fic!  
  
**JulesFelton**: Thank you, I plan to keep going with it, I want to see it finished even if nobody's reading it! Which people are at the moment, thank God!  
  
**DayDreamer743**: I know poor Remus, but I imagine life isn't easy for werewolves! Thanks for your review!  
  
**inadequate**: Again wow, some people are so nice in their reviews! I'll try and update soon but I'm not sure because of my exams. 


	17. The Joys of Being Head Boy

Right, back to James' POV. Oh and still, if you like my story, and want to know what'll happen next, review it and put me on your author alerts. Thanks :D!

* * *

Chapter 17 : The Joys of Being Head Boy  
  
It was the following Wednesday before the Marauders got to see each other properly again. Sure they had spent all of Friday, Saturday and Sunday night together in the Shrieking Shack, but as animals they couldn't communicate fully. They had spent Monday and Tuesday trying to recover, and so had been sleeping at all available opportunities – in between classes etc.  
  
James had seen Sirius and Caitlin together on Saturday morning, so he assumed they had made up. He didn't ask Sirius any questions about it, he never did, he just accepted it. Their relationship was far too complicated for James to even begin to understand. The only thing he cared about was that when they were together Caitlin wouldn't tell, and when Caitlin wouldn't tell James was happy, and when James was happy people got less detentions – oh the joys of being Head Boy!  
  
James felt an uneasy jolt in his stomach however, when he arrived down for breakfast on Wednesday to find Sirius sitting with the other Marauders, Caitlinless. They couldn't have fallen out again surely? They had been inseparable for 4 days, even if Sirius had been asleep for most of it.  
  
"Morning," said Sirius groggily, as James slid onto the bench beside Remus.  
  
"Morning," said James uncertainly, raising his eyebrow at him.  
  
"She's with Lily, she'll be down later," Sirius yawned. "So don't worry Prongs, you will see Cait today!" he added cheekily, obviously trying to lighten the mood a bit.  
  
"Oh good, 'cause that's what I was worried about," James answered earnestly. Sirius gave a small chuckle, which even Remus joined in on. James looked round at him in surprise. It was not often you heard Remus laugh at anything to do with Caitlin, he liked her sure enough, but he still saw her as a threat to his very existence.  
  
"Uh Moony?" James asked. "You alright mate?"  
  
"I'm fantastic," Remus answered, his eyes sparkling. The other three exchanged glances. "Why shouldn't I be?" Remus asked them, after taking their gazes. "Sirius has shut up Caitlin." Sirius looked a little disgruntled at this remark but let it slide. "Full moon's not for another month, and I just got a letter from my mother to say that they've almost completed the research on the Wolfbane Potion!"  
  
Remus looked extremely happy with himself, but the other Marauders became a little downhearted at his last statement.  
  
"No more Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs," Sirius said glumly.  
  
"Padfoot, don't even try it," Remus scolded him. "Trust me, nothing is going to ruin this day!"  
  
-----------------  
  
The lesson after lunch on Wednesday's was one of James' favourites. Not because it was his best – Transfiguration was definitely his best – but because every single 7th year Gryffindor took it. The Charms lessons were always a good laugh, and generally James found the work easy enough that he did well in it, without that much effort.  
  
It was also the only lesson that James had, that Gryffindor shared with the Hufflepuffs. This meant that even Peter was able to outshine them, and win the house some points. Charms was generally a good class for the Marauders plus Robbie and Frank, to have a muck about in.  
  
This was the only class Sirius and Caitlin sat beside each other in, so James took his usual seat beside Remus, with Peter on the other side of him. James' stomach gave another jolt, when Sirius sat down beside Peter, and Caitlin sat down on the bench at the opposite side of the room. It was only when Caitlin smiled and gave a small wave across at Sirius that he relaxed again.  
  
"Padfoot, are you trying to give me a heart attack?" James called up the bench to him. Sirius laughed at his concern.  
  
"Nah, sorry. She just needs to spend some time with Lily at the moment," Sirius replied, not offering any further explanation.  
  
"What's wrong with Evans?" James said quickly, almost tripping over his words. Sirius gave him a knowing smile in return.  
  
"Why Prongs? Do you care?" he said slyly.  
  
"Uh, Professor Flitwick is about to start," interjected Remus, whilst leaning forward in his seat so eye contact was broken between James and Sirius. James may now be Head Boy but Remus was still to responsible one in the group. After that the whole class quietened down and began to concentrate on the lesson.  
  
Flitwick was in full swing of his lecture about Charms performed without a wand when James felt a tap on his shoulder, and a piece of parchment skidded onto the desk in front of him. He opened the note and read it.  
  
_Brace yourselves lads, the women are rebelling!_  
  
He recognized Frank Longbottom's handwriting. He looked round the room and realised what he meant. All the Gryffindor girls were sitting on benches on the other side of the room. It was very seldom you saw Frank and Alice apart, and Scarlet and Robbie had got to the point where James thought they actually might be surgically joined at the hip. He read on.  
  
_I know, what's going on?_ wrote Robbie Brown.  
  
He was obviously most perturbed as to why his beloved Scarlet had stopped drooling all over him.  
  
_I have no idea._ wrote Sirius.  
  
Peter had simply read the note and passed it on, while Remus had added a drawing of himself drinking some smoky potion, whilst dancing, in human form, under the full moon.  
  
It took only a second for James to decide what to write.  
  
_Sirius knows._  
  
"Wingardium Leviosa," he whispered, and floated the note right back up the bench to Frank again. Frank glanced at it and then eagerly showed the note to Robbie, who then passed it to Sirius with a threatening glare. Sirius read it and then forwarded the glare to James.  
  
James watched as Sirius wrote something quickly down on the page, all the time Robbie breathing down his neck. Once he had finished he showed what he had written to Frank and Robbie, who looked at him sceptically for a moment, and then seemed to accept it. Then he crumpled the note into a ball and threw it, so it hit James right between the eyes. Professor Flitwick didn't notice anything, he was too busy being thoroughly amazed by Lily's homework. James flattened out the parchment again.  
  
_All I know, is it is something to do with Lily Evans. Don't worry they haven't started an anti-man campaign again and I AM NOT THE CAUSE OF THE PROBLEM!!_  
  
James smiled inwardly at the memory when Sirius had been caught dating both Scarlet and a Ravenclaw girl at the same time, in their 2nd year. The Gryffindor girls had then started to ignore all of the boys to show their support for Scarlet. James seemed to remember them walking about linking arms a lot, and singing love ballads at the top of their lungs. It had gone on for about 3 weeks, until Remus had finally cracked them with his downright niceness.  
  
_What's wrong with Evans? Is it serious?  
_  
James flung the note back to Sirius. The other boys had lost interest, and so didn't even try to read it.  
  
_I think the most serious thing wrong with her at the moment, is that she is about to drown in Caitlin's hair._  
  
James looked up as he read Sirius' reply. It was true, Caitlin was sitting so close to her that Lily had to keep sweeping her curly, blonde hair away from her face. He also noticed that every so often, Scarlet and Alice would reach out and put their hands on Lily's back. Lily looked a bit annoyed every time they did this.  
  
_Padfoot, what aren't you letting on? Surely you're not keeping secrets from me? Old buddy? Old pal?_  
  
James hastily threw the note back to Sirius, this time the sound of it hitting Sirius' desk attracted Flitwick's attention.  
  
"Mr Black, you wouldn't be passing notes in my class would you?" he squeaked. Frank and Robbie looked up fearfully. Flitwick had a habit of reading out any notes that were passed in his class, and if he read that one out loud then the Gryffindor 'boyfriends' would be in for it tonight!  
  
"Uh Professor, it's ok, I'll get this one," said James standing up and striding down towards Sirius. "Mr Black that'll be 5 points from Gryffindor, and give me that note!" he said authoritatively. "After you've written your answer," he whispered in Sirius' ear.  
  
Flitwick seemed happy with the way James had handled the situation and so turned his attention back to the rest of the class.  
  
"Mr Lupin, you're looking particularly cheerful today," James whispered when he had returned to his seat. "5 points to Gryffindor," he said to rectify the damage. It certainly felt good to have this much power. He looked down at the note he had just 'confiscated' from Sirius and read his hurried reply.  
  
_Look I can't tell you. Caitlin has this whole 'we should be able to tell and keep each others secrets' thing at the moment and it's more than my life's worth!_  
  
James looked down the table at his best friend disbelievingly. He raised his hand and brought it back down like the crack of a whip. Sirius shook his head in shame.  
  
"I know," he mouthed. "I know."  
  
-----------------  
  
The class finished, and James watched in horror as the girls got up and left – with linked arms. Scarlet threw Robbie a scathing look when he tried to object to her going to dinner without him. The boys followed morosely, making sure to walk a distance behind the girls. They didn't want any fights, and so made clear they were not trying to pressure them in any way.  
  
"Boy are we in the doghouse," Frank mumbled, as he looked longingly after Alice.  
  
"We're not trust me," Sirius said knowledgably. "At least we won't be if we just leave them alone." Frank, Robbie and Sirius looked very depressed at this thought. It made James sick to look at them.  
  
"Look on the bright side," he said cheeringly. "It gives you lot some time to find them again."  
  
"Find what?" they chorused.  
  
"Your balls." Sirius took James into a headlock, before Frank spoke again to defend him.  
  
"You know he's right! We need time to be men again!" he said proudly.  
  
"Yea!" chorused the others.  
  
"Time to talk about Quidditch without commenting on each team's 'pretty colours'," added Robbie, mimicking Scarlet's voice perfectly.  
  
"Yea!" the others yelled again.  
  
"Time to scratch ourselves in public!" shouted Sirius.  
  
"Hell yea!" the others cheered.  
  
"Uh Remus?" came an unknown feminine voice from behind them. James turned round to see Eleanor Wilson, a 7th year Hufflepuff, who had just come from the Charms lesson as well, standing beside Remus. She was eyeing the other boys with much caution – who wouldn't after hearing that rant? "Can I have a word?" she asked in a delicate voice.  
  
"Um, sure," said Remus. He looked round at the others, looking for help.  
  
"Moony, we'll see you in the Great Hall?" James said, whilst indicating to the others that they should leave.  
  
"Yeah ok," answered Remus warily. He was eyeing Eleanor as though she could explode at any moment.  
  
-----------------  
  
The boys were all thoroughly enjoying the absence of the girls, by chewing with their mouths open, and putting too much food in at the one time, when Remus joined them at the Gryffindor table about 10 minutes later. He was white as a sheet; his triumphant mood completely vanished.  
  
"I was wrong guys, my day is ruined," he said slowly as he sat down. The others all looked concernedly at him.  
  
"Moony what's wrong?" asked Sirius.  
  
"She asked me to the ball," Remus answered in a monotone, his face expressionless. Frank and Robbie started to laugh, whilst Sirius gave his friend a hard, congratulatory thump on the back.  
  
"And?" asked James warily, he was picking up that Remus was not exactly thrilled about it, something that the others seemed to have missed.  
  
"And I said yes," Remus replied in a monotone again. At this Sirius and the other two non-Marauders cheered. James looked slightly happier at the thought of his friend having his first date, only Peter looked positively fearful.  
  
"But...Moony... What if she finds out you're a w- "  
  
"Woeful dancer," James said quickly, stopping Peter from spilling the beans to Frank and Robbie, who were still cheering. Sirius had stopped to give Peter a warning glare.  
  
"Yes well, he'll just have to get dancing lessons," he said pointedly. "Won't he Wormtail?"  
  
Frank looked round at the Marauders, noticing the meaningful glares being exchanged between them.  
  
"Uh dancing lessons?" he asked, laughing slightly at what he presumed was a joke from Sirius. "I thought we were suppose to be relishing in our manhood?"  
  
"Yes well, that was before Peter reminded us what a woman he really was," hissed Sirius bitterly. Frank threw him another non-comprehending look and then stood up to leave.  
  
"Well I suppose I better go and see if Alice is willing to spend time with me again," he said a bit icily. "You coming Rob?"  
  
James watched a bit disheartened as the two of them left to go sit further down the table. In their first year the Gryffindor boys had always travelled together. It had only been at the end of that year, when James and Sirius worked out what was wrong with Remus that the group had spilt. There had never been a falling out, they had still remained friends, but Robbie and Frank had sensed there was something else going on and so they had become less close. When the group spilt, Peter for some reason James didn't quite understand, had chosen to go with them, so they had felt obliged to tell him about Remus as well. James had always reckoned he had chosen them because Sirius and James were more respected than Frank and Robbie, and could protect him – being a short, fat, blob of a thing made him easy pickings for the particularly menacing Slytherins.  
  
"You stupid git!" Sirius yelled once Frank and Robbie had left, lifting his arm and making a swing for Peter.  
  
"Padfoot leave it," said James soothingly, catching Sirius' arm in mid- swing. "There was no harm done." Sirius puffed slightly but seemed to take James' advice on board.  
  
"So Moony going to the ball?" he asked, trying to focus his energy on something other than beating Peter to a pulp. Remus nodded mutely, he did not seem to have noticed anything that had happened at the table since he had arrived.  
  
"So you're obviously not worried about her finding out?" asked James, picking up Peter's well-thought, but less well-timed question. "Otherwise you wouldn't have said yes."  
  
"Well I am now!" cried Remus. "I wasn't at the time. To be honest I didn't even think about it at the time, I think she just surprised me so much. I was just so flattered and... and excited," he finished, a bit ashamed.  
  
"Well then go to the ball with her! Don't worry about it! Let her take your mind off it for a while. Merlin knows you deserve it!" said Sirius cheerfully. "We all deserve a little happiness in our lives," he added, giving James a sly grin.  
  
"What?" asked James slightly annoyed.  
  
"Oh nothing, just Caitlin told me something very interesting about Lily the other day," replied Sirius, grinning at the other two Marauders. Remus looked completely perplexed, while Peter began to snigger back at him. James was sure he had no idea what he was laughing at however. All the same he could feel the heat rising in his cheeks. Had Remus blabbed?  
  
"Oh would this be one of the secrets you can't tell, lest you break Caitlin and your 'sacred bond of trust'," he said bitterly to Sirius. Remus and Peter now broke into real laughter, James felt happier about taking a low jab at his friend.  
  
"No it's just – " Sirius began.  
  
"Look if this is to do with Lily liking Remus then I already know alright?" he yelled. "I don't see what that's got to do with me though," he added, trying to cover up his obvious fury.  
  
"Where did you get that from?!" both Sirius and Remus yelled in unison.  
  
"Well she kissed him, didn't she?" James answered lamely, he didn't want them to know he had been analysing her reactions to when Caitlin had told her.  
  
"Yea because she was under a love potion!" Remus yelled dumbfounded.  
  
"She would have kissed Wormtail in that state!" Sirius added, much to Peter's annoyance.  
  
The heat in James' cheeks had now started to burn his face, he was sure he was as red as his Head Boy badge. It was part due to embarrassment, and part due to the rage he was feeling that his best friend would put him through such torment.  
  
"Look anyway, speaking of Lily, is there anyone you would like to ask to the ball Prongs?" Sirius asked, he voice strangely calm.  
  
"I don't know how you got from Lily, to someone I'd like to take to the ball," James answered equally as calm, but defiant, looking straight into Sirius' eyes. He couldn't afford a sideward glance at Remus, Sirius would catch on.  
  
"Look I was just asking if you were... if you were interested in anyone at the moment," Sirius tired again, screwing up his face as though it pained him to ask this.  
  
"You starting to sound like a bit of a girl there," interjected Peter. James reckoned that was exactly what was causing Sirius so much pain.  
  
"At least I don't look like one," Sirius spat back at Peter, eyeing his – well, what can only be described as – man-breasts. "Do you like anyone?" he added hurriedly to James.  
  
"No," James lied. Sirius gripped the table with both hands and took a deep breath in, he was clearly losing his patience with James.  
  
"Look I don't know why you're being so... so... Look I'm only trying to help alright?" he said breathlessly.  
  
"Help with what? Padfoot would you just tell me what's going on?" James was the only one left to tell. Remus had got bored of the argument and was now reading a book on History of Magic, and Peter was still recovering from Sirius' scathing remark about his physique.  
  
"I CAN'T TELL YOU!" roared Sirius. James and he both looked away from each other, each one infuriated at how stupid the other was being. "Look all I'm going to say, is that if you asked Lily Evans to the ball, she would say yes," Sirius said as though he was explaining the Fidelius Charm to a backward toddler.  
  
Remus put down the book he was reading, Peter forgot the insult, and it took all of about 2 seconds for James to figure out what Sirius had just said.  
  
"You mean?" James asked astounded. Sirius looked at him pointedly.  
  
"I can't tell you what I mean. Caitlin would stew me," he said, whilst nodding vigorously.  
  
"Should I ask her then?" James asked, barely able to contain his excitement. He liked balls, he liked Lily, this was perfect.  
  
"I don't know what you are talking about Prongs," Sirius answered, still vigorously nodding, and pointing to the door of the Great Hall.  
  
"Now?" laughed James. Remus beamed at him as well, his happiness was contagious.  
  
"Prongs, stop asking me silly questions, and let me get back to my relationship-respecting, secret-keeping ways," Sirius answered again, this time lifting James up by the shoulder and physically pushing him down the table towards the exit.  
  
-----------------  
  
James didn't need any more pointers than that. He sprinted all the way up to the Gryffindor tower, taking the stairs two at a time. It was only when he reached the common room that he stopped to compose himself a bit, he didn't want to appear too eager to Lily. He looked around to see that the common room was empty apart from Avril Knight. He ignored her and walked on up to his own room.  
  
As the lion cub let him in he was glad to see that Lily was sitting in their shared common room, exactly where he had hoped she'd be, this way he got her on her own. He stood and surveyed her for a moment, hoping to think of a way of how he was going to go about this. It was only then that he realised Lily was sitting quietly on one of the armchairs doing absolutely nothing, just staring into space.  
  
"Uh Evans? What you doing there?" he asked cautiously, he wasn't sure she'd noticed he'd entered.  
  
"Hiding," she replied flatly, still staring into space.  
  
"Hiding from what?" he asked more concerned, walking over towards her.  
  
"Caitlin," she replied flatly again.  
  
"Why?" James laughed slightly. He sat down on the arm of her chair.  
  
"She's smothering me, I needed some space to breath," Lily answered, with a small smirk this time.  
  
"Yea I noticed," said James honestly. "'Lily Evans – choked on a hair ball.' It doesn't exactly read great on a headstone does it?" Lily eyes flickered towards him for the first time since he'd entered.  
  
"No," she said laughing slightly. "It doesn't really."  
  
"So what's the problem anyway?" he asked, keen to keep the conversation flowing.  
  
"I don't really want to talk about," Lily answered, her eyes leaving his face and focusing on the floor instead. They both sat in silence for a few minutes, James not quite knowing what to say. He knew he probably shouldn't ask her now, she definitely was not in the mood he had hoped for, but he could barely contain himself. He decided to bite the bullet.  
  
"Evans," he said, and then gave himself a mental slap. She had already looked up at him though, so he thought it best to ignore his blunder and carry on. "Uh I was wondering, would you go to the ball with me?" James scanned her face for any sign of emotion. She seemed shocked, and a little upset. Tears had started to well up in her eyes, and a sinking feeling took hold of James' stomach. She didn't seem angry or annoyed, as she usually would have done when he asked her out, but still the answer came.  
  
"No," Lily choked. James remained silent.  
  
'Bastard!' he though furiously. 'Bastard, I am going to kill him!' He couldn't believe he had just fallen for one of Sirius' practical jokes.

* * *

Oh I know I'm a right cow, but trust me they will get together and Lily has a perfectly good reason for turning him down! She's not being a bitch!  
  
Anyway I saw the new Harry Potter film last night, and in fact I'm away to see it again now, I just thought I should post this first! It's amazing for those who haven't seen it yet! There should be a law forcing people to see this film! Far better than the first two, although it doesn't explain the ending very well, but I'll let that slide as I knew what was going on anyway!  
  
Also I'm probably not going to post for a good few weeks, loads of exams coming up so I need to revise. Sorry about that, but as soon as July hits I'll be able to post a few times a week I promise! Anyway please read and review, and put me on author alerts if you like it!!!

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**luvsirius:** OMG you crazy person why are you up at that time in the morning? Anyway thanks for reviewing!  
  
**Crazayladay:** Look I put someone in for Remus! But it's not going to be romance of the century I'm afraid. Thanks for reviewing!  
  
**nightwanderer:** Stay away from me with your pixies! At least I know there's someone out there with the same warped sense of humour as me!  
  
**DayDreamer743:** Thanks for reviewing! I thought it was cute too.  
  
**Carmel March:** Thank you for reviewing! Glad you liked the Caitlin/Sirius chapter.  
  
**Pick boy lover:** Glad that cleared that up for you. I'm a bit confused though. Do you even like my story?  
  
**BurningIce22:** What's Knotts? Anyway thanks for reviewing!  
  
**Oliverwoodschic:** It never even crossed my mind to make them kiss at the end. I'll remember that for future chapters though!  
  
**Lolly O'Neill:** Thank you very much!  
  
**james was a chaser:** Oh you know I love you!  
  
**kaleidoscope0-0eyes:** No I haven't finished my exams unfortunately. They don't finish until the 28th June, so I'm not going to be able to update as much until then. Thanks for reviewing both chapters! 


	18. My New Best Friend

Hello all, remember me? I'm still hard at the exams but I've haven't updated in ages so I thought I'd take a break to write a new chapter. Bet you can't even remember what this story is about!  
  
Anyway would just like to say I have now seen the new movie twice and it is amazing! Also I got the KOOLEST Harry Potter doll, where it blows air out of his hand so you can levitate balls on it and such. It's so kool. I also got a Quidditch one where you can manoeuvre him into different positions on his broom and all. And yes before anyone asks I AM SEVENTEEN YEARS OLD! hangs head in shame   
  
Anyway on with the story, quick recap is that Lily just turned James down when he asked her to the ball.

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Chapter 18 : My New Best Friend  
  
"YOU DID WHAT?!" Caitlin screamed as she found Lily sitting in the main common room about 40 minutes later. She was working with Alice on a Defence Against the Dark Arts homework.  
  
"Caitlin don't shout," Alice scolding, whilst putting a comforting arm round Lily. In truth Lily was glad she was shouting. She was sick of being mollycoddled and fussed over by the girls, ever since she had told them about her mother. She was glad of the break from the hushed voices they had adopted now when speaking to her. She was almost convinced that they had heard her wrong, and thought that she was the one that was dying.  
  
"BUT JAMES JUST ASKED HER TO THE BALL AND SHE SAID NO!!" Caitlin roared again. Lily had never been so happy to see her friend in a temper with her. She felt Alice grip her more tightly, as if reassuring her that she wouldn't let Caitlin hurt her.  
  
"Alice it's alright," she said, trying to loosen herself from her grip. "Look I said no to him, because I'm not going to be here over Christmas. I'm going home to see my mum remember?"  
  
Alice gave Caitlin a scathing look, whilst Caitlin looked extremely ashamed of herself. She sat down on the other side of Lily and put her arm round her as well.  
  
"Lily I'm sorry," she said, returning to her voice, which Lily assumed would be the one she would use when talking to someone on their deathbed. Lily noticed that she bit her lip as they all sat in silence for a moment.  
  
Lily jumped up, unable to take the funeral mood any longer. She turned and stood directly opposite the other two, who looked dumbstruck, on the sofa.  
  
"Look don't do that," she said loudly. "Don't go back to using those voices!"  
  
"What voices?" Alice asked her, looking totally bewildered.  
  
"These voices," Lily replied, sounding like an extremely old witch. "Caitlin don't just say you're sorry when you're not! I know you're still pissed off at me!"  
  
"I'm not..." Caitlin began.  
  
"You just bit your lip!" Lily screamed. "You always bite your lip when you're annoyed!" She was getting so high pitched now she was afraid only dogs could hear her. She tried to calm herself down again. "Look, if you have something to say just say it."  
  
"Fine," Caitlin shouted, getting to her feet as well, the two girls were now rounded on each other. "When you told him no you could have at least told him why! Now he's thinking that you're just some kind of Ice Queen! How am I meant to sort this one out?!" As she finished she collapsed back on to the sofa, with her face in her hand, apparently exasperated.  
  
"You don't have to do anything!" Lily spat, incensed that Caitlin thought it was her sole responsibility to get Lily with James. "And I didn't tell him why because he left so quickly after he asked me there wasn't time! Caitlin, I'll sort it out myself ok? I'll explain it to him." Caitlin gave her a sceptical look and then covered her face again.  
  
"Look it's alright, I realise he probably wasn't going to hang around for an explanation. It's just – ," she gave a long sigh. "– Sirius and him are having the biggest fight in the Great Hall at the moment, and I just know that I'm going bear the brunt of it tonight."  
  
"Why are Sirius and James fighting because I said no to James?" Lily said icily. Caitlin still had her hand over her face and failed to notice Lily's now murderous look.  
  
"Ugh, because James thinks that Sirius was playing a joke on him, when he told him to ask you to the ball!"  
  
"Why would Sirius tell James to ask me to the ball?" Lily asked icily again. This time Caitlin realised that she had been caught out.  
  
"Uh... Well... Maybe," she spluttered, now looking directly at Lily.  
  
"YOU TOLD SIRIUS!" Lily screamed. Alice gave a gulp.  
  
"Well yes," Caitlin squirmed under Lily's gaze. "But in my defence I did tell him not to tell James!"  
  
"BUT HE DID!" Lily pointed out.  
  
"Yes and I'm just as upset about that as you are," Caitlin slowly, trying to keep the situation calm.  
  
"BUT THIS IS YOUR FAULT!" Lily pointed out again.  
  
"LOOK!" Caitlin roared at her, standing up again. "I don't see what the big problem is anyway! You like James, and James likes you, Sirius was only trying to hurry things up a bit!"  
  
"But now James knows I like him!" Lily said, sounding exasperated.  
  
"SO?!" Caitlin responded. "What the hell does that matter? In fact it's good, now you can just start going out together!"  
  
"Oh no, I'm not going out with him now, not now he's knows I like him!" Lily said crossing her arms.  
  
Caitlin took a deep breath.  
  
"What?" she asked calmly.  
  
"Well I can't go out with him now. I mean every time I see him I know he's going to be sitting thinking 'ooo you like me', and every time he tries to talk to me it's just going to be awkward. So if it's awkward every time we talk then obviously he's not going to ask me out again, right?" She looked for some reassurance from Alice, who gave a timid half nod. "It would be all right if we were already going out and he knew I liked him, but he knows now and we're not even going out! It just embarrassing! Don't you see you've ruined it?! You've messed it all up!"  
  
Caitlin blinked.  
  
"Lily," she said sharply. "Wise up!"  
  
With that she stormed out of the portrait hole, and out of sight. Lily watched her go and then turned back to Alice, who was still sitting on the sofa, apparently not sure what to say next.  
  
"Can you believe that?!" Lily prompted her.  
  
"No way!" Alice agreed. "I mean Frank promised me he would never tell James, and I know he wouldn't!"  
  
"You told Frank?" Lily asked. Alice gave another timid nod, realising her mistake. "Oh for Merlin's sake!" Lily cried out, as she stormed back up to her room. She made a mental note never to tell her coupled up friends secrets again.  
  
-----------------  
  
Lily spent the next four days in her room at all times, only coming out for classes and meals. She had taken out a vendetta against all of her coupled up friends, firstly because she had decided that absolutely none of them could be trusted, and secondly because they were coupled up and she wasn't! Just who did they think they were? The smug bastards.  
  
That only left Avril, and even though Lily did class Avril as one of her close friends she wasn't enthused about the idea of her becoming her new best friend, so she had avoided her at all costs as well.  
  
Another good reason for keeping holed up in her room was James. She wasn't keen to find out whether her theory about them now being more awkward around each other than before, was true. She waited until she heard him leave the common room in the morning, before she came out of her room, and got into her room before he arrived back at night. So far she had avoided any confrontations, only seeing him in class, which wasn't that bad seeing that there were roughly another 17 people there to place between him and herself.  
  
-----------------  
  
On Monday Lily arrived down into the Great Hall for breakfast, and found that the only Gryffindor 7th year there was Peter Pettigrew. For the first time in her Hogwarts career Lily decided to talk to him. Since she had discarded all of her other friends because they were untrustworthy, loved- up pigs, or in Avril's case, a bit annoying, she decided that now was a good time to make new friends.  
  
"Hello," she said cheerfully as she sat down opposite him, and helped herself to some toast. Peter almost choked on his porridge in surprise.  
  
"Hello," he spluttered back at her, his eyes darting from side to side, looking for any chance of an escape. Lily was a bit disappointed to find that the conversation had died already.  
  
"Where are the rest of them today then?" she asked after a few awkward moments of silence. It was very rarely you saw Peter without Sirius, James and Remus.  
  
"Finishing a Defence Against the Dark Arts homework," Peter replied nervously, his eyes still darting about.  
  
"They're only finishing it this morning?" Lily said disapprovingly. "Honestly I had that done by last Thursday! It's due in first period." Lily now noticed that Peter was looking at her with the same fear he had when looking at Professor McGonagall. "I see you must have finished yours though," she added with a smile, trying to soften her 'Head Girl' rant.  
  
"Well no, I don't do Defence, I do Herbology instead," Peter said a little apologetically.  
  
"Oh sorry," Lily said quickly. "I forgot." This was a lie, in truth she hadn't forgotten at all, she just hadn't realised that Peter hadn't been in that class with her for over a year. The conversation died again. Peter went back to his porridge.  
  
"Caitlin does Herbology," Lily said, she was determined to keep him talking.  
  
"Yea I know, she's in my class," Peter mumbled through a mouthful of oats.  
  
"I don't," she added lamely. Peter looked up from his bowl, and gave a weak smile, as if to say 'I know that too', and then went back to his breakfast. "I bet it's really interesting." This was another lie, Lily had found Herbology so boring at OWL level that she had once found herself wondering whether gnawing off her own arm would be a more constructive use of her time. This was the reason she had not taken it on to NEWT level even though she wanted to be a healer.  
  
"Emm... well it's alright. Just a bunch of plants and stuff..." Peter trailed off.  
  
"Oh I'm sure there's more to it than that," Lily said, pretending to be interested. Peter then went off on a long speech about different types of plant he had come across at NEWT level. Lily tuned in and out of it, catching occasional snippets such as 'deep shade of purple', and 'ate Professor Sprout's hat', all the time she kept an fascinated look on her face.  
  
It was during this time that she noticed the rest of the Marauders traipse into the Great Hall, Peter, still chatting away, apparently did not. Lily watched as the three of them sat down about halfway down the table from them, and then chatted for a few seconds amongst themselves. It wasn't long however, before Remus tapped James on the shoulder and pointed down to where Lily was sitting with Peter. Lily looked away quickly before James caught her staring at him.  
  
"So it ate Professor Sprout's hat?" she said quickly, eager to look totally involved in this conversation with Peter.  
  
"Yea," he laughed. "And then it –"  
  
"WORMTAIL GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE NOW!" came the booming voice of Sirius Black down the hall.  
  
"And then it?" Lily said to him as if nothing had happened. Peter looked from her to Sirius and then back again, apparently unsure of what he should do.  
  
"WORMTAIL! COME HERE!" Sirius shouted again.  
  
"Look he's talking to me alright?" Lily shouted back down the table to him. "And then it?" she tried again. Peter just looked at her speechless.  
  
"Evans give us our best friend back!" Sirius yelled, but a bit more laughter was coming through in his voice now.  
  
"No! You can't have him, he's my best friend now!" Lily called back, and then to everyone's surprise, including her own, she stuck her tongue out at them. Peter gave a laugh, which was echoed by James, Remus and Sirius up the Hall.  
  
"Evans, you already have a best friend!" James called to her, beaming, apparently he was just glad to see her in a more playful mood than usual.  
  
"Yea well I had to get rid of her, because she couldn't keep my deepest, darkest secrets! Peter here, would always keep my secrets. Wouldn't you Peter?"  
  
"Definitely, of course," Peter laughed again. Remus and Sirius laughed too but James just looked at her, stunned. She could kind of see where he was coming from as well. The last time anything had happened like this, was that time after the Quidditch match, and they had both treated it as a taboo subject. And now here was Lily openly talking the latest happening in front of people, because she was sure that all of the Marauders would know exactly what secret she was talking about. James was stunned by her actions, and in a way she even amazed herself.  
  
She stuck out her tongue at him again, to see if she could confuse him anymore. At this he gave a small laugh, and then turned and said something excitedly to Sirius, who gave a tremendous laugh like a bark, and then shouted back down the table to Lily again.  
  
"HERE EVANS, PRONGS SAYS YOU CAN KEEP HIM! SAYS HE LIKES YOU BETTER WITH WORMTAIL AS YOUR BEST FRIEND!" James gave her a grin as Sirius finished speaking.  
  
"Oh well, if that's the case then you can have him back!" James and Sirius looked at each other confused. "Wouldn't want Potter to like me even more now would we?" Lily explained. Sirius and Remus started to give each other looks that said that she might be treading a little too close to the edge on this one, James shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Lily decided to go for the kill. "I mean, he already asked me to the ball last week!"  
  
Sirius, Remus and Peter immediately jumped up from their seats, pointed at James and screamed "Ahhhhhhhhhh!". Some of the younger Gryffindors that had been sitting between Lily and the Marauders, and who couldn't help but listen to the conversation, began to clap their hands and stamp their feet. James just sat there, open mouthed in shock, but laughing at the same time. The scene was reminiscent of the time the Hall had jeered Sirius out, earlier on in the year, but only this time it was Lily who ran from them.  
  
She wasn't sure if she was going to be able to deal with the consequences of her actions. She thought that the best thing to do at the moment was to get straight to class and bury herself in her books. Which is exactly what she did.  
  
-----------------  
  
It was only later on that night that Lily was really able to think about what she had done. She had spent her day by throwing herself into her classes with newfound enthusiasm, and by repairing broken bonds with Alice and Scarlet, who were only two happy to have her talking to them again. Somehow she had managed to successively keep away from James, even though he had been trying his best to catch her eye throughout the whole of Defence Against the Dark Arts.  
  
However, late that night, alone in her room, she found that there were no distractions to make her forget the fact that she had obviously completely flipped it earlier that morning. Why had she decided to shout that out in front of the whole Hall? Why had she found it so easy to joke about it in front of James? Was she trying to show him she was still interested? Sometimes she didn't understand her own mind.  
  
Maybe Caitlin had been right. Maybe it wasn't that bad that James knew he liked her. If she was going to show that she wasn't going to be awkward about it, and that she was happy to make a joke out of it, he should do the same. Only two things could happen now he knew she liked him. He could ask her out, which would be great. Or he could tease her about liking him, at which Lily would just have to smile graciously and ignore him, and then give him the finger when his back was turned.  
  
Tossing about in her bed, with all these thoughts swimming about her head, she rolled over to see what time it was. Four in the morning. There was no point in even trying to get to sleep now, she would have to get up at six to do Head duties anyway. She decided to get up and go to the girls' dormitory to speak to Caitlin. She wouldn't mind Lily waking her up at this hour, Caitlin was a bit of a night-bird anyway, and she especially wouldn't mind if she was waking her up to apologise.  
  
She threw a dressing gown round her, and walked out into the private common and through the lion cub portrait hole. As she descended the spiral staircase she was met by Caitlin's unmistakeable giggle, followed by a lower, male laughter.  
  
'Oh God, I am not walking in on Cait and Sirius again!' Lily thought, remembering the strange scene she had stumbled upon the last time.  
  
"Caitlin!" she called out, to give them a bit of warning.  
  
"Shussshhh!" she heard Caitlin whisper, followed by another small giggle. The male laughter died away.  
  
"Caitlin, it's Lily, I'm coming down the stairs, ok?" she yelled out again. There was no answer. Lily started down the stairs. She was sure that she had heard Caitlin, but what if she was mistaken? What if it was someone else? As she got closer to the common room she heard low, indistinct whispers, interspersed with giggles from both a female and male source.  
  
As she reached the bottom step of the staircase the whole common room came into view. It was completely empty, although the whispering continued.  
  
"Hello?" Lily called nervously. "Is there anyone there?" The whispering stopped immediately. Lily walked closer to the sofa that had its back to her, it was the only place in the room that was out of her vision, and the only place where the two whispering people could be hiding.  
  
As she stepped closer and closer she felt her nerve failing her. She wasn't quite sure was she was going to see on the other side of this sofa.  
  
'Please let this be Cait and Sirius. Please let this be Cait and Sirius,' she found herself chanting over and over in her mind.  
  
"Hello?" she whispered. She gave one more warning before she finally looked over the back of the sofa. Again there was no answer. She counted to three and then looked. There was nobody there.  
  
She stood bewildered for a moment. There was officially no one in the room, but then where were the voices coming from?  
  
"Boo!"  
  
She heard another whisper, and then a rustle of movement. Her eyes were drawn to the now dying fire, but there was no one there. She let her eyes rest there for a moment, thinking of what to do next, her heart thumping in her chest all the while. Inadvertently she found herself focusing on something. Lying a few feet in front of the fireplace was a long lock of curly, blonde hair. She walked over to it, she was sure Caitlin had been here now, but why was a lock of her hair lying on the floor? Had she been hurt? Was she alright?  
  
She bent down to pick up the hair, but as she did so she felt something cold and silvery touch the back of her hand. She lifted up the invisibility cloak to find Caitlin and James looking back at her, both shaking violently with silent laughter.  
  
"Hiya Lils," Caitlin managed before collapsing back into hysterics.  
  
"Evans," James nodded to her, before the giggles took hold of him as well.  
  
It took a moment for the situation to sink into Lily's head. James Potter was lying, with his back flat on the floor in front of her, only a few steps away from a dying fire. Caitlin Kenworthy was lying on top of him, with her head on his chest. His left arm was then round her, with his left hand in her mane of hair, seemingly holding her head in place. And they both thought that it was hilariously funny that Lily had caught them here? Like this?! At four in the morning?!!  
  
"YOU BITCH!" Lily screamed. James and Caitlin's expressions immediately changed. They looked at each other, and then looked back at Lily.  
  
"Look Lily it's not..."  
  
"See Evans, what happened was..."  
  
Lily didn't hear their excuses, she ran straight back up to her room, the tears flooding down her face. There was only one clear thought in her mind, someone was going to have to tell Sirius.

* * *

Ok so nobody flame me! The next chapter will be the same events but from James' point of view, and then it might go on a bit further at the end. All will be explained in the next chapter, please keep reading I haven't changed it into something horrible, I promise. There is a explanation for it!  
  
Anyway, for some reason I didn't think that chapter was going to be that long – lol. I'll probably update again on Friday. Maybe a bit sooner if you READ AND REVIEW!

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**Crazayladay:** You are really not going to like me now, but I worked it out and they don't get together for a good while yet coughchapter29cough, but lots of kool stuff happens before that so keep reading! Please!  
  
**nightwanderer:** Keep those pixies away from me! I have a feeling you're going to hate me for what I just did to Lily but it all turns out good I promise! Keep reading!  
  
**Carmel March:** Ok I hope I answered your question in the chapter, and thanks for your review!  
  
**Pick boy lover:** No sorry I just got the impression you didn't like it because you couldn't understand why they would care about Caitlin showing Lily Snuffles. Sorry but I must have picked that up wrong. I'm glad to hear it's one of your favourites. I like it too :D !  
  
**BurningIce22:** Lol glad you cleared that up I was getting a bit worried. Thought I had missed something about this place Knotts! Anyway thanks for your review!  
  
**Oliverwoodschic:** Oh God, well if you though the ending of the last chapter was terrible then you're going to hate that one! I promise it does get better! Please keep reading!  
  
**james was a chaser:** You probably aren't even going to review anymore because you already know exactly what's going to happen. Something which I now regret telling you but anyway! You tell anyone, you die!  
  
**kaleidoscope0-0eyes:** Look I didn't update early, but I did update during my exams so you have to give me some credit! Thanks for reviewing! Also your story is class!  
  
**Twilight66:** Lol yes I would just like to point out that at least when it comes to the Harry Potter movies – it's kool to be British! Did you enjoy the film? More to the point, did you enjoy that chapter?  
  
**Japanese Dragon:** God it freaked me out when you reviewed cause your screen name reminds me of my cousin, and I really don't like my cousin, but then I thought the likelihood of him reading something like this is very slim, and also he's a boy, and I always thought FanFiction was more of a girl thing – please correct me if I'm wrong! Anyway there was a load of random information you didn't want to know! Thanks for reviewing!  
  
**coll:** I just did :)  
  
**mbc-gurl12:** You, I am almost certain, are insane. But anyway keep coming with the reviews! You help my ego! Lol jk!  
  
**prongy:** Thanks for reviewing!  
  
**inadequate:** OMG thank you! As long as you don't come back with the word 'rubbish', I'll be happy!  
  
**elements-of-the-soul:** Wow you like long reviews! First of all, you didn't need to review every chapter as you read it, but you do now have to review every further chapter! That's the rules! (Not really, you can do what you want, I don't mind!) I apologise for the typos, but as you know sometimes these can't be helped, especially when you are proof reading in the early hours of the morning. All of your theories turned out to be wrong for this chapter, but I would love to hear what your take is on the next one! Finally I would like to say that I hate you. You only have one exam left? I have 4! 


	19. Misunderstandings, Chocolate and Invisib...

Ok, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!!! I'm updating now! It took so long because this chapter is about the same length as the Order of the Phoenix and I had to rewrite it loads and I still hate it! Anyway you can read and review and tell me what you think!  
  
**_Ok, this chapter starts just where the beginning of the last chapter began._**  
  
It is the same events from James' point of view. Does everyone know where it's starting then? Ok, let us begin!

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Chapter 19 : Misunderstandings, Chocolate and Invisibility Cloaks!  
  
James stormed back into the Great Hall, to find Sirius and Caitlin sitting at the Gryffindor table, cooing over each other. Well, to be fair, Sirius wasn't doing much cooing himself, more lapping up Caitlin's attention.  
  
James stormed over to them, and stood on the other side of the table from where they were sitting. He took up the standard 'I am so pissed off at you right now!' stance, – stand up straight, feet shoulder width apart, hands placed firmly on hips – and waited for a response from Sirius. There was none.  
  
Sirius continued to tell Caitlin whatever it was that was making her giggle so much, and Caitlin continued to run her fingers along the backs of his hands. James tried again, still maintaining his stance, he took a sharp intake of breath and then blew it out slowly. Again he was ignored, and his patience ran out.  
  
"Uh hello?!" he said forcefully, whilst repeatedly banging his fist off the table. Needless to say, this time they both looked round at him, so did most of the Hall.  
  
Caitlin looked most affronted that James was trying to talk to Sirius, in what she obviously assumed was 'her time'. She slinked her arms around Sirius' waist, whilst he instinctively put his arm around her. She gave James a smirk to show that she wasn't giving him up. James returned it to show that he didn't care. He then turned his attention to Sirius.  
  
"Uh, you're a bastard," he said matter-of-factly. Sirius looked at him a bit taken aback, and then started to laugh.  
  
"Yea, I know," he replied. "But what can you do?"  
  
"I don't think you're that bad," Caitlin interjected, and they started to coo over each other again. James banged his fist off the table once more, and Sirius broke away from a lingering kiss with Caitlin to look at him.  
  
"Sorry," he mumbled, looking at James with slightly more concern now. "Why am I a bastard then?"  
  
"You made me go all the way up there... to her... and ask her... and she said..." James could hardly speak he was so filled with anger. "PADFOOT HOW COULD YOU?! I HAVE TO _LIVE WITH HER_!" Caitlin flinched with his final outburst, and James saw Sirius tighten his grip around her.  
  
"Prongs, calm down." He spoke slowly, and soothingly. "You're not making any sense."  
  
"I'm sorry," James said sarcastically. "Am I upsetting your girlfriend? Do you like having a girlfriend Padfoot? Do you like me not having one? Do you like RUBBING THAT IN?!"  
  
Sirius looked blankly round at Caitlin.  
  
"Do you know what's going on?" he asked her. She shook her head and then they looked back at James.  
  
"You told me to ask Evans out!" James said pointedly.  
  
"What?!" shrieked Caitlin. She jumped away from Sirius, and stared at him absolutely infuriated – his arm that she had been supporting was left dangling in midair.  
  
"What?!" Sirius shrugged to her. He obviously didn't see what the problem was.  
  
"She said no!" James said, trying to show him.  
  
"What?!" Sirius and Caitlin shouted in unison, both turning round to face him. James took a step back to survey their reaction for a moment. He was unsure of what to make of it, one thing he was positive of though, everyone at the table was now thoroughly confused.  
  
"She said no... because it was a prank?" he began hesitantly. James stopped as he watched the pair of them slip further into bewilderment. "Look are we all on the same page here?"  
  
"Prongs that wasn't a prank..." Sirius began.  
  
"I can't believe you told him!" Caitlin shouted over him. "You promised you wouldn't tell!"  
  
"I didn't tell him! I just gave him a few helpful pointers!" Sirius objected. To James they were beginning to sound like an old married couple. "I didn't come straight out and tell him! At no point did I say 'Prongs, Evans completely fancies the arse off you.'" Sirius stopped, looking completely stunned at his own stupidity. Caitlin crossed her arms and looked in the opposite direction, apparently too disgusted to look at him. A fresh wave of confusion swept over James.  
  
"She... what?! Look, if all this is true, and... it wasn't a prank, why did she say no?!" he asked pleadingly, more directing the question at Caitlin.  
  
"James, I don't know," Caitlin said earnestly, rising to her feet. "But I swear, I will go and sort it now, ok?" She placed her hand reassuringly on James shoulder, and then strode purposely out of the hall, still resolutely not looking at Sirius.  
  
James slumped down on the bench opposite Sirius and sighed, before starting to bang his fist off the table again. This time several of the younger Gryffindors backed away from it, afraid of being hit by any of the cutlery that was flying about with the vibrations.  
  
"I – DON'T – LIKE – GIRLS!" James yelled over the clatter.  
  
"Well if that's true, then I know that if you ask Michael Dempsey from Hufflepuff, to the ball, he wouldn't say no," Sirius laughed. James stopped banging, something seemed to have hit him with the force of a train.  
  
"I already have a date for the ball," he said flatly, staring blankly at his hands.  
  
"Who?" Sirius asked, knocked for six.  
  
"They asked me after Evans said no," he carried on, ignoring Sirius.  
  
"Who?" he asked again.  
  
"I was just so angry, I didn't know what to do... so I said yes." As he finished his eyes widened, and he looked like he was going to throw up.  
  
"WHO?!" Sirius shouted, growing impatient. James looked up at him.  
  
"Avril Knight," he gulped.  
  
"Score!" Sirius said sarcastically.  
  
-----------------  
  
James was so annoyed at himself for saying yes to, what was considered amongst the Gryffindor boys, the most repulsive girl in the house, that he promptly put the whole situation to the back of his mind. It was Monday, before he even broached the subject of Lily again, afraid to mention her in case it reminded the other boys who he had now ended up going to the ball with. Four days, however, had passed since Caitlin promised that she would 'sort it', and he had heard nothing. Growing impatient, he finally asked Sirius whilst they were finishing a Defence Against the Dark Arts project, with Remus.  
  
"Padfoot, d'you who I haven't seen for _four days_?"  
  
"Who?" Sirius grunted, not looking up from the parchment he was furiously scribbling on.  
  
"Evans," James replied. "I thought Cait was going to sort it?"  
  
"Yea well, you know the way they're best friends?" Sirius asked, still not looking up from his parchment.  
  
"Yes," replied James, slowly.  
  
"Well, now they're swore enemies," Sirius added breezily.  
  
"What?! How did that happen?" James asked incredulously.  
  
"Well, whilst Caitlin was trying to sort it out she let slip that she'd told me Lily liked you, and that you knew, and so Lily probably guessed that Moony knew," he gestured towards Remus, who looked up from his textbook.  
  
"Yea and that Wormtail knew as well," he added.  
  
"Oh yes don't forget that Wormtail knew," Sirius agreed. "So basically, Evans is pissed that the world and his daughter knows that she wants to ride your broomstick. So she blamed it all on Caitlin, harsh words were said, and now they're never going to speak to each other again, which is 'fine by me, she's no fun anyway'," Sirius finished, mimicking Caitlin perfectly.  
  
"They'll work it out though won't they? I mean, they're best friends," James said trying to sound concerned, secretly he was just annoyed that Caitlin hadn't persuaded Lily to surrender to him.  
  
"Correction – were best friends. And I don't know Prongs, some serious things were said, I think Caitlin might even have told Evans to 'wise up'," Sirius said, mockingly fearful.  
  
"The horror of it!" Remus exclaimed sarcastically.  
  
"I mean I don't know what the big deal is anyway," Sirius said, after he had finished laughing at Moony. "Would you be that upset if Evans knew that you fancied her?" he asked James.  
  
"Well no, but I supposed I'd be a bit annoyed if everyone else in the Gryffindor knew as well though," James answered honestly.  
  
"Oh," Sirius said and then paused. "Well then it's a good thing that they don't then!" James noticed that he threw a look at Remus as he said this, but he didn't think anything of it. He had more pressing issues on his mind.  
  
"Does she know about Avril yet?" he asked, hoping he could maybe rectify that problem before Lily even found out.  
  
"I don't know," Sirius answered candidly. "I wouldn't think so though, I don't think she's spoken to anyone. Caitlin doesn't even know yet, and _I'm not telling her_."  
  
"Why are you not telling her?" Remus asked, obviously as bemused as James.  
  
"Because Caitlin hates Avril," he stated simply. "And when she finds out she is just going to curse you down dead," he added to James.  
  
"Great, so now I have to deal with a nauseating dance partner, a homicidal Caitlin, and Evans being so uncomfortable around me, she'd probably rather share the Head quarters with Snape!" In James' eyes things couldn't get any worse.  
  
"You haven't finished your project yet either," Remus added, indicating the forgotten piece of blank parchment that lay in James' lap.  
  
"Oh FUCK!"  
  
-----------------  
  
15 minutes later James arrived down into the Great Hall for breakfast, with Sirius and Remus. He had written a project that should have taken a week, in less than 10 minutes, and the annoying thing was he would still probably get an 'Outstanding' for it.  
  
The three of them had just sat down, and were discussing the fact that Remus hadn't spoken to Eleanor Wilson since the day he'd agreed to go to the ball with her, when Remus, keen to get the conversation away from his own shortcomings, pointed out to James that Peter was sitting with Lily just a bit down the table from them.  
  
"Maybe you don't need Caitlin to speak to her for you after all?" he whispered slyly to James.  
  
"Maybe not," James agreed. "Wonder what they're talking about," he mused out loud.  
  
"Don't know, I'll find out," Sirius answered him quickly. James was just about to stop him, when his voice boomed down the hall. "WORMTAIL GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE NOW!"  
  
James nearly hid underneath the table. Any uncomfortable situation with Lily had so far been avoided, by her barricading herself in her room. In classes he had tried to keep out of her way, and not draw any attention to himself. Sirius had now just blown this 'I'm not here, I'm truly insignificant' act, by shouting out to Peter in front of the whole frigging Hall!  
  
James waited in trepidation for Lily's reaction. Was she going to storm out? Was she going to stand up in front of the whole Hall, and tell Sirius and him off for being 'bullying toerags' for ordering Peter around like that? Was she going to rush into his arms and declare her undying love? He was a bit surprised to see that she gave no reaction whatsoever. Well maybe he wasn't surprised, if there was one thing he had learnt, it was that Lily Evans was as stubborn as a mule. She had obviously heard, and she was obviously ignoring them. He found himself being more relieved than surprised. He was just about to start into his breakfast, thankful that no awkward circumstances had arisen when Sirius shouted out again.  
  
"WORMTAIL COME HERE!"  
  
"Look he's talking to me alright?" Lily answered them. Sirius must have been as taken aback by her reply as the James was, because he lowered his voice slightly.  
  
"Evans give us our best friend back!" Sirius laughed. James watched the ensuing argument unfold before his eyes.  
  
'She's going to blow. She's surely going to blow,' he thought, as he waited for Lily's response.  
  
"No! You can't have him, he's my best friend now!"  
  
'Is she joking? Is Lily Evans actually having a joke? Is she – hang on did she just stick her tongue out at us?' James felt a wave of emotions as he watched the girl he had thought was generally a bit uptight, messing about with his best friend. He thought it was time he got in on the act.  
  
"Evans, you already have a best friend!" He knew that this was not strictly true, he knew Caitlin and she weren't talking. He knew it was foolish of him to bring this up, but part of him wanted to see her reaction, wanted to see how far he could push it. Even though he was enjoying her being a little less high strung, part of him wanted to see her go back to her usual ways. It was almost a way of him making sure he hadn't gone insane.  
  
"Yea well I had to get rid of her, because she couldn't keep my deepest, darkest secrets! Peter here, would always keep my secrets. Wouldn't you Peter?" He was stunned. He was aware of Remus and Sirius laughing at her joke, but not much else. His mind was racing. Why was she being like this? Why was she being so open with them? Was she doing the same thing as him? Were they inadvertently testing each other without knowing it?  
  
Lily stuck her tongue out again, bringing James out of his reverie. He laughed and then lent over to Sirius.  
  
"Maybe I've still got a chance there," he said quietly enough that he was sure Lily could not have heard him. Sirius gave a laugh like a bark and then spun round to Lily again.  
  
"HERE EVANS, PRONGS SAYS YOU CAN KEEP HIM! SAYS HE LIKES YOU BETTER WITH WORMTAIL AS YOUR BEST FRIEND!"  
  
Instead of wanting to hide under the table again, at Sirius' outburst, this time James felt more confident. After all Lily had shown no objections to him up to now. He threw her a grin to convey his feelings.  
  
"Oh well, if that's the case then you can have him back!" He and Sirius looked at each other confused. "Wouldn't want Potter to like me even more now would we?" she went on. Sirius and Remus started to give each other little uncomfortable looks, and James shifted awkwardly in his seat. This wasn't exactly how he had wanted her to react, and he certainly didn't want her shouting this out in front of the whole hall. "I mean, he already asked me to the ball last week!"  
  
James barely had time to allow what she had just said to sink in before the others reacted. In a way he was glad they did, it covered up his real feelings and he was able to laugh the whole thing off.  
  
It was only later, after a futile attempt in Defence Against the Dark Arts to try and get Lily to talk to him, so she could explain herself, that he told Sirius that that was it. There was no point in pursuing this any further, he had explained to him. It was too much bother.  
  
He was giving up on Lily Evans.  
  
-----------------  
  
James was on his broomstick. It was a Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff. He could feel the wind blowing through his hair, hear the crowd cheering his name, and he had the quaffle in his hand.  
  
He passed it to Leanne on his right, she passed it back. He passed it to Caitlin on his left, and she passed it back quickly, almost catching him off guard, but still he caught it with the very tops of his fingertips. He flew on towards the goals, the crowds' screaming getting louder.  
  
Suddenly Caitlin was right beside him.  
  
"James what are you doing?!" she screamed. "You dropped the quaffle! We lost the game!"  
  
He looked down at his right hand, where the quaffle had previously been gripped firmly, only to find it empty. He felt a searing pain as Caitlin slapped him hard across the face.  
  
He woke with a start, to find Caitlin sitting on the edge of his bed, wearing a triumphant grin, wringing her hand that she had just slapped him with.  
  
"How the hell did you even know I was dreaming about Quidditch?" he asked wearily, rolling over and trying to go back to sleep.  
  
"You were making 'whooshing' noises in your sleep," Caitlin answered, a little too brightly for someone at – James opened one eye to check – one in the morning. "James, are you not even going to ask me what I'm doing in your room in the middle of the night?" she asked, when she noticed he was almost back in the land of nod.  
  
"I'm guessing you've worn out Padfoot, and he's sent you up here to see if I could sort you out," James mumbled groggily.  
  
"_Me_? Wear out _Sirius_?" Caitlin asked sardonically.  
  
"Cait, seriously way too much information," James said before she say anymore.  
  
"Ok, but James you have to get up."  
  
"I _will_ get up," James assured her. "At seven," he added, causing Caitlin to pout.  
  
"James, come on, we need to talk," she whined, shaking him slightly.  
  
"Cait, you know, we've never really been that close," James said a bit sharply, whilst sitting up in his bed. "So I can't see we'd have anything to talk about, unless it's Quidditch, which can wait 'til a reasonable hour!" With that he promptly lay back down again, and threw his covers over his head, hoping that she'd just go away.  
  
"It's about Lily," Caitlin answered in a small voice, she was obviously a bit wounded by his remarks about them 'never being that close'. "Sirius told me about you giving up on her."  
  
"She's not even your friend anymore," James answered from under the duvet, again a bit sharper than he had meant to.  
  
"She will be if I do this for her," Caitlin answered more resolutely. "Get up!"  
  
James peeked an eye out round the top of his covers to look at her. He was keen to hear what she had to say, but he was also aware of how comfortable his bed was at the same time.  
  
"No." He swept the covers over his head again. Then he felt was Caitlin lifting them up a bit, and peeking down at him in the darkness.  
  
"Get up, get up you sleepyhead. There's work to do around here!" she sang. James knew what she was doing and snatched the covers off her. He tried to stuff them into his ears, but still he couldn't drown out her voice. "Get up, get up, get out of bed. There's work to do around here!"  
  
Next thing he knew, James was sitting on the edge of his bed, fully clothed, and wide-awake. Caitlin threw him another triumphant grin. He could have told her off, but as thoughts of going back to sleep were now far from his mind, he thought it futile.  
  
"So where are we going?" he asked unconcerned. Caitlin looked crestfallen for a moment, she had obviously wanted him to congratulate her on her remarkable voice, but she quickly regained herself.  
  
"Room of Requirement," she answered briskly, and with that she shoved him out of his bedroom door. He barely had time to grab his invisibility cloak and the Marauders' Map before they left.  
  
They slipped silently through the corridors, under the cloak, and didn't speak, or even acknowledge each other until they had reached the corridor on the 7th floor. Once they had reached the portrait of Barnabas the Barmy, Caitlin streaked out from under the cloak. They had met absolutely no one on their trip there, not even a ghost, but James was still a little wary. He checked the map just before he uncovered himself just to make sure it was safe. All the staff seemed to be in their own quarters, apart from Filch who was patrolling the second floor corridor, Mrs Norris at his side.  
  
'Merlin, does that man ever go to sleep,' James thought a little bitterly. The Marauders had always been a whisker away from being caught by Filch, in all of their previous adventures.  
  
Looking up from checking the map he saw that Caitlin had already summoned the door for the Room of Requirement. She turned to face him before opening the door.  
  
"So...?" she murmured.  
  
"Go ahead," replied James, indicating she should go first. She seemed to brace herself before opening the door, almost not sure if she wanted to see what was behind it. She gave a little gasp as it opened. James stepped up behind her to get a better view, and found himself thinking she had braced herself for good reason.  
  
"Jesus Cait, what did you ask it for? The land that time forgot?"  
  
"I... I..." She was stuttering, apparently appalled at what lay before, and a little unsure if she should tell James what she asked for. "I asked it for something to help me convince you, that you and Lily were meant for each other," she finished a little more determinedly.  
  
"But there's nothing there," James answered pointedly. And he was indeed right. They had opened the door to absolutely nothing. The room had no walls, no floor, no ceiling, no furniture, no lights, no ending. It was like looking into the abyss.  
  
"But that means there's nothing... nothing to say your meant to be together..." A single tear fell down Caitlin's cheek. James understood how upset she would be feeling. Caitlin had always been a great fan of Divination. Anything to do with signs, or fate, or prophecies greatly intrigued her. It would be greatly upsetting for her to find that there were no signs for James and Lily.  
  
"Well maybe the room's not saying that," James began more gently. He wasn't sure if he was trying to console Caitlin, or himself. He was also finding it a bit disconcerting that Lily and he seemed destined to be apart. "You asked it for something to help you convince me, not a sign. Maybe it's telling you to keep your nose out, so it's not helping. Maybe it's a sign to tell you not to meddle so much, just look where it's got you!" He was trying to make a joke out of it now, but he wasn't even sure he believed his own words.  
  
Something in Caitlin seemed to light up though. She stopped crying and turned to face him, her eyes wide with significance.  
  
"Or maybe," she began, as though she could hardly contain herself. "Maybe it means you don't need convincing. Maybe you and Lily are so meant to be that you don't need a sign. Whatever happens, the outcome will always be the same." Her eyes, now so wide that James was sure he'd never seen so much white in them before, reflected the flames dancing in the torch brackets down the corridor. She looked positively insane. Something that James had not failed to pick up on.  
  
"No, I think I liked my explanation more," he mumbled. James did not share Caitlin's enthusiasm for fate. He liked to think he was in charge of his own destiny. Sure he liked Lily, and he was sure she liked him back, but meant to be? That was a bit far fetched. They were only 17 for goodness sake. I mean it would be great if Lily did consent to go out with him, but spend the rest of his life with her? Nah, he would just see how it went.  
  
Caitlin was still staring at him, looking like she'd just escaped from St. Mungos.  
  
"Cait, it's late, and I think you've had too much stress put upon you with this whole argument with Lily," James said with authority. He was starting to sound more and more like a proper Head Boy everyday, that or he was spending too much time with Remus. "I think the best thing to do would be for us to go back to our beds, and you to wake up in the morning and make up with her. Just put this whole thing with me and her to the back of your head. I will sort it myself, ok?"  
  
Caitlin gave him a weak smile in agreement, her eyes returning to normal. She was just about to open her mouth to say something, when James noticed the flames dancing in someone else's eyes, directly behind her. Mrs Norris had found them.  
  
Caitlin spun round to see what James was looking at, and then frantically made a dash to hide in the Room of Requirement. James caught her round the waist just in time. He was sure a room with no walls, no floor and no ceiling was not the best place to go running into. And he also had an inkling that once they went in and shut the door, there would be no way out of it again either.  
  
He slammed the door shut from the outside and saw it melt away before his eyes. He then grabbed Caitlin by the wrist and yanked her down the corridor the opposite way from Mrs Norris, who had just ran from them to tell Filch.  
  
Once he was sure that they were out of sight from Filch, Mrs Norris, or any wandering ghost, he stopped running and threw the invisibility cloak round them. Caitlin looked at him, alarmed at the fact they had stopped trying to get away.  
  
"James, what?!" she whispered, but very loudly so. "We have to go! We'll get _caught_!"  
  
"Not under this we won't," he said very smugly.  
  
"But... we still... oh Merlin..." Caitlin was hyperventilating. James looked at her with deep disgust. What was her problem anyway? He did after all, do this all the time.  
  
"Look we'll be fine," he tried to reassure her. "_If_ we are caught, we'll just say we didn't realise it was past curfew."  
  
Caitlin grabbed his left wrist to look at his watch.  
  
"James it's _half past two_! Curfew is at 10, they're hardly going to believe us!"  
  
"I know, I was trying to make a joke," James said through gritted teeth. He was starting to get a bit worried himself now, at the amount of noise Caitlin was making, and he knew from experience, telling her to be quiet would only make her louder.  
  
He took out the map again. They had been running so fast that he wasn't even sure where they were. Two labelled dots told him they were on the fifth floor, a mere few metres from a secret passage that would take them to just outside the portrait that led to the kitchens. He tried to drag Caitlin along to it by the wrist again, but she was too entranced by the map to notice. She snatched it from him to look at it closer, apparently in awe of it.  
  
Just then Filch appeared at the other end of the corridor, Mrs Norris by his side. James was struck with a horrible feeling. Filch could not see them, but Mrs Norris could smell them, and would be able to lead him straight to them. All was not lost though. If he could just get Caitlin to step a bit backwards, they would be able to drift under the tapestry on the wall, and slip, unnoticed, down the stone slide on the other side right down to the kitchen. But Caitlin was still not moving, the map still hypnotising her, yet she had failed to notice that it now showed the dot labelled Filch drawing ever closer to her.  
  
As a last resort, James reached out and tapped the map with his wand.  
  
"Mischief managed," he whispered. The map went blank, and James, taking advantage of Caitlin no longer being under its spell, yanked her back towards the tapestry. They were almost there when Filch gave a cackle of delight, which stopped James dead in his tracks.  
  
"AHA!" he roared. "What's this?"  
  
James watched horror struck as Filch picked up a blank piece of parchment that had fallen at his feet, a very _old_ piece of parchment. James grabbed Caitlin's wrist so tightly she had to stamp on his foot to stop him. Two years he had had that map, it had been six months in the making, and now it was gone. Caitlin had dropped it!  
  
He positively winged her through the tapestry and down the slide. They landed with a large bump just outside a portrait of a large bowl of fruit. James tickled the pear and dragged Caitlin inside, his hand over her mouth to stop her from making any more noise.  
  
"Oh James I'm so sorry," she gasped when he finally released her.  
  
"Don't worry about it. It doesn't matter," he lied. He couldn't be too mad with her, it was partly his fault. Him wiping it blank and dragging her backwards had shocked her so much she had dropped it.  
  
"James I..." She went to put her hand on his shoulder, but he brushed past her, walked towards a large table in the middle of the room, and sat down at it. It was only then that Caitlin seemed to take in her surroundings. "Where are we?" she asked a bit abruptly.  
  
"In the kitchens," James replied, yawning.  
  
"Wow," Caitlin breathed, looking around the place. "I don't think I've been here before."  
  
"You won't have been. It's out of bounds. Look we could be here a while, so you might as well take a seat." Caitlin walked over and took a place on the bench opposite him. "You hungry?"  
  
"Not really," Caitlin shrugged.  
  
"Well I am." James snapped his fingers, and 4 house elves came running. "Look I need chocolate," he told them. "Lots and lots of chocolate." Caitlin looked at him questionably. "Look I just lost one of my prized possessions. I need comforting alright?"  
  
"I thought only girls ate chocolate for comfort?" Caitlin asked, trying to hold in a laugh.  
  
"Well I do it too!" James answered defiantly, although laughing at himself at the same time.  
  
-----------------  
  
"James, do you know what I just realised?" It was about an hour later. Caitlin and he had now devoured five chocolate frogs each, seven bowls of chocolate ice cream and were three quarters of the way through an extremely large chocolate fudge cake. They were trying to come up with ideas on how to get back to the Gryffindor common room without being caught, now that they didn't have the map.  
  
"What?" James asked, laughing for no reason. It was half three in the morning, they were high on sugar, and everything was now absolutely hilarious.  
  
"You're Head Boy!" Caitlin said through fits of giggles.  
  
"Only took you three months then?" They both fell about the place laughing, James actually fell into the chocolate cake, which set them off for another five minutes.  
  
"Nooooooooo!" Caitlin cried after she'd composed herself slightly. "I mean, you're Head Boy! It doesn't matter if you're caught out of bed, you could just say you were patrolling or something, and Filch would have to let you off!"  
  
"That," James said, whilst pointing across the table at her. "Is an excellent point! BUT!" He waved his hands dramatically in the air. "You are a lowly nothing, not even a prefect, and therefore could not come with me!"  
  
"That is true," Caitlin gave a small applause for James spotting the enormous flaw in her plan. "BUT! Do you know what else you are James?" He gave it some hard thought.  
  
"Drop dead gorgeous?" He hazarded a guess.  
  
"No," Caitlin answered simply. "You're a" – she brought her voice down to a whisper – "_animagus_."  
  
"I fail to see your point." He was a bit pissed off she didn't find him gorgeous.  
  
"Well, there's rules against students being out of bed, but there's no rules about _wild animals_ being out of bed is there?" James gave her a curious look; even in his sugar coma this wasn't making any sense. "Look, if you transform into a stag, then I can wrap myself in the invisibility cloak and get on your back. If Filch sees us, he'll just think something's escaped from the Forbidden Forest and let us past."  
  
"Cait, I see two problem with your plan," James started.  
  
"Go ahead then."  
  
"Thank you, I will. The first is that as a stag I don't take passengers. The second is... well you know that at the minute we are running a high risk of detention?"  
  
"I do indeed," Caitlin nodded in concurrence.  
  
"Well if I go along with your plan, then I'll be risking Azkaban!" The house elves that were tending to the pair of them gave a little gasp at this. Caitlin turned to scold them.  
  
"Oh relax," she said exasperatedly to them. "It's not like _you're_ going to Azkaban!" She turned back to James. "So what do we do then?"  
  
"Well I think we do it the old fashioned way."  
  
And that is exactly what they did. Ten minutes later they were back in the Fat Lady's Corridor, having successively navigated themselves all the way from the kitchens, without running into anybody. They were almost there, on the final straight. As they casually strolled down the corridor, still under the invisibility cloak, they both lazily yelled out the password to the Fat Lady. They were still about 20 feet from the open portrait hole when a horrible, familiar cackle sounded behind them.  
  
"AHA!" Filch shrieked. "Who's there?"  
  
"Oh crumbs," Caitlin exclaimed. James laughed loudly at her choice of words, causing Filch to come charging blindly down the corridor at them.  
  
"Run!" James shouted at her, putting his left hand on the back of her head, urging her forward and into the common room. They somehow managed to get in and shut the portrait behind them before Filch could reach them.  
  
They both collapsed in a bedraggled heap on the floor, beside the fireplace. James lay with his back on the floor, Caitlin lying beside him, the invisibility cloak lay forgotten beside them. In all the confusion, James found that his hand was still holding on to the back of Caitlin's head. He went to remove it, so he could check his watch to see what time it now was.  
  
"OUCH!" Caitlin screamed, and James knew why. His hand appeared to be stuck in her hair. "My hair!! James, your watch is all tangled up in it!" she moaned, as she put her hands to the back off her head, checking to see what the problem was. They both sat up.  
  
"Don't worry I'll free it," James replied, as he lifted out his wand. He was just about to say 'Diffindo', when Caitlin grabbed his wrist.  
  
"You're not cutting my hair!" she whispered menacingly. James looked at her blankly for a moment.  
  
"Well then what do you suppose we do? Just stay like this?"  
  
"If it means saving my hair," Caitlin stated, and then burst into another fit of giggles. "Look just wriggle your hand about a bit, it's sure to free itself." James did as he was told, and the sight of him concentrating so hard on rotating his wrist sent them both back into hysterical laughter.  
  
"Caitlin!" The unmistakeable voice of Lily Evans drifted down the staircase towards them.  
  
"Shussshhh!" Caitlin whispered, whilst putting her finger up to her lips. James had to stuff his hand in his mouth to stop himself from laughing, and Caitlin gave another small giggle. The fact that it was now about four o'clock, and they were still high on sugar, meant that the thought of Lily finding them, James' watch caught in Caitlin's hair, was now manically hilarious.  
  
"Caitlin, it's Lily, I'm coming down the stairs, ok?" Caitlin giggled again.  
  
"Honestly," she whispered to James. "Who does she think we'll think it is?" James nodded mutely in agreement, and looked around the common room, waiting for Lily to appear. He noticed the invisibility cloak lying beside him and an idea came into his head.  
  
"Here, do you want to hide from her?" he whispered back to Caitlin, who looked a bit confused. "For a laugh?" Caitlin, in her current state, would clearly do anything 'for a laugh', and eagerly agreed. James lay back down on the floor again, and using the hand that was still stuck in her hair, rolled Caitlin on top of him and covered them with the invisibility cloak.  
  
"Hello?" he heard Lily called nervously. "Is there anyone there?" He realised how strange the scene must look to her, she had obviously heard them, but now there was no one she could see.  
  
She walked closer and closer towards the couch near to them. She obviously thought they were hiding on the other side. It was sidesplitting to watch her bracing herself as though someone was going to jump out at her as she walked cautiously towards it.  
  
James would never know why he did it. Maybe it was the look of panic on Lily's face when she looked over the side of the couch and saw no one was there. Maybe it was because Lily would never have found them if he hadn't. Or maybe it was because he was so doped-up on chocolate, but for some reason he spoke.  
  
"Boo!" he whispered. The strange thing was they still would have been alright if Caitlin hadn't decided to knee him hard in the groin for his stupidity. The simultaneous action of him curling in pain from his injury, and Caitlin grabbing her head, as he accidentally yanked at her hair again, caused enough movement that the invisibility cloak fell off them a bit.  
  
They watched half in fear, half in amusement, as Lily stepped ever closer towards them. For some reason the fact that she was looking straight at them, and yet could not see them, made them start tittering again.  
  
It was a release for James when Lily finally pulled the cloak off them, they were caught, but at least he could laugh out loud again.  
  
"Hiya Lils," Caitlin managed before collapsing back into hysterics.  
  
"Evans," James nodded to her, before the giggles took hold of him as well.  
  
It took only a fraction of a second for Lily to take their current position in, and come to the wrong conclusion.  
  
"YOU BITCH!" she screamed. Caitlin and James both tried to make their excuses but she wouldn't listen, and ran back up to her bedroom instead.  
  
James immediately stood up, pulling his watch out of Caitlin's hair with such force that several chunks of her hair came with it. James tried to pick them off his wrist, as Caitlin rubbed the back of her head in pain. They were both thinking hard about what to do next.  
  
"Well," Caitlin said to him, indicating the staircase that Lily had just run up. James looked blankly at her.  
  
"Well what?"  
  
"Well go after her then," she said exasperatedly.  
  
"Uh no I don't think so," James answered, waving his hands in front of him like he was trying to stop traffic. "You go!"  
  
"What?! You just said earlier on that I should stop meddling, and you were going to sort this out yourself! What happened to that?"  
  
"Yea well, that was before this! I can't go now. There'll be no talking to her. Not after she thinks we... thinks we..." James couldn't bring himself to say it. He knew exactly what Lily had thought she had walked in on and the very thought of it angered him. I mean Caitlin was his best friend's girlfriend, just what type of person did Lily think he was?  
  
"Well then what are we going to do?" Caitlin asked for about the fifth time that night.  
  
"Well I don't know about you, but I'm going to speak to Sirius before Lily does," James answered, his head clear for the first time since he'd eaten all the chocolate.  
  
"That's a good idea. I'll come with you so we can get our stories straight."  
  
"What do you mean _get our stories straight_?! We haven't done anything wrong!" James shouted at her, annoyed because if Caitlin was feeling guilty, he would feel guilty, and he didn't want to feel guilty, because there was nothing to feel guilty for!  
  
"Look I know, but you have to understand if you tell Sirius you story now, and I tell him something ever so slightly different tomorrow, it'll look even more suspicious than it already does. It's better we tell him together, ok?"  
  
"Ok," James agreed. It would seem that it was not only his head that was now thinking straight again. The pair of them trundled up the boys' dormitory stairs eager to tell Sirius everything. If James had now lost Lily, he certainly didn't want to lose his best friend as well.

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Well there you go, I absolutely hate it, and couldn't be bothered to proof read it but I'll post it anyway. Again I'm sorry for the delay, but if you find anything drastically wrong with this chapter put it in your review and I may take it down and redo it! I don't know when I'll update again, maybe next week sometime!  
  
READ & REVIEW!!!!

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**Crazayladay**: I'm sorry! But there's good stuff before that I promise!!  
  
**nightwanderer**: KEEP THOSE PIXIES AWAY FROM ME!! I promise you'll like what happens in a few chapters! Keep reading!  
  
**Carmel** **March**: Thank you, unfortunately you saying it kept getting better jinxed it, as that last chapter was crap. But I'll try and pick it up a bit with the next one!  
  
**BurningIce22**: Thank you for reviewing. Yeah I forget about people reading these being from all over the world as well, and then I get a review at 5 in the morning, and you realise they're American!!  
  
**Oliverwoodschic**: Well you'll have to wait for the next chapter to see how Sirius reacts! Sorry! (Keeps you reading grins evilly )  
  
**I** **love** **truegryffindorgrit**: Change your name you eegit!  
  
**kaleidoscope0-0eyes**: Yea well I worked out this story is going to be 39 chapters, so you could say I'm stretching this a bit yea. They get together before the 39th chapter though. Is it noticeable I'm stretching it? :s  
  
**Ryuu of the Broken Light**: Ok your name no longer makes me think of my cousin. Phew! I didn't think you were a guy btw! Don't worry about being random... I mean, have you read this fic?  
  
**mbcgurl12**: Lol if at first you don't succeed, review and review again. Just wondering, if you read through this fic again, would you tell me how long it takes you? I'm just curious. Also your 12, and this is pg-13, tut tut!! Jk!  
  
**elements-of-the-soul**: Ooooooooo you were kind of right with those predictions! Well done! On the other hand, I'm becoming predictable. How horrible :( ! I now only have 2 exams left! So :P – even though I know you probably have none!  
  
**luvsirius**: I'm sorry the bit with the cheering is something that I think only people from where I live do, and it doesn't come across very well when you try to right it down. I only put it in because I personally find it funny, but you should just ignore it.  
  
**b.o.r.e.d-h.e.l.l-y.e.h**: I'm sorry. From now on I'm not making any more deadlines for myself, therefore I won't upset anyone, and blow up my own head!  
  
**MooningOverMoony**: If cliffhangers might kill you, you probably shouldn't read on! I thrive on them! And there are worst ones to come I promise you! But thank you for your review.  
  
**i cant think of one**: Your lucky! You only had to wait one day! 


	20. Lily's Wake Up Call

Ok it's been a month! I'm sorry! I have a valid excuse though – I have not been in the country! I have been in Italy, London and Southern Ireland, and before anybody says it, I live in Northern Ireland, and the North and South are two completely separate countries! Completely separate! Different currency and everything!! If anyone wants the full history I will gladly email it to you! So yes I was out of the country even then!

Also I have some bad news and some good news, so I'll give you the bad news first.

I have a little notebook that has the basic plot of every chapter in the story written in it, also all the names of all of the characters I have named so far, what house and year they're in and what subjects they do. The notebook has vanished! I have torn my house apart and can't find it, but anyway this means that the story has changed slightly because I couldn't remember the original way it was meant to go. Anyway this leads on to the good news.

The good news is because I've changed it slightly I can now write a sequel to it so hurrah! Anyway, on with the story.

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Chapter 20 : Lily's Wake Up Call

Lily Evans was sick of being nice. Lily Evans was sick of following the rules, caring about other people's feelings, and being a model member of society. Generally Lily Evans was sick about caring about God's creation and all the people in it. It was time to be a bitch. Why not? I mean everyone else was. Her sister was a bitch, her "best friend" was a bitch, and her crush was most definitely a bitch.

She had to tell Sirius what had happened, there was no question of that, it was the decent thing to do. But was she going to use the decent way to do it?

The decent way would be to take Sirius aside, have a quiet word, tell him what she had seen but she couldn't really be sure, and suggest that maybe he should talk to Caitlin about it. That would be the decent way. To take in to account Sirius' feelings. I mean that was what she had always done, cared about other people, stood up for the little guy, even when they didn't deserve it. It was one of her most endearing qualities, and it was why she was Head Girl.

But what did that matter anymore? I mean Caitlin hadn't taken her feelings into account when she had snogged the face off James Potter, the two faced, conniving, scheming bitch! Why should Lily care about Sirius? Caitlin hadn't worried about him when she had cheated on him, doing God knows what with his _best friend_!

No Lily had decided to tell Sirius in the most vindictive way possible. Caitlin could sort out whatever mess it caused, after all it wasn't Lily's problem! Her plan was to blow off some of the steam that had been building on her over the previous night. She was going to let it all out, no holds barred, and try and hurt and disrupt as many lives in the process!

-----------------

She found Sirius Black pondering along the fifth floor corridor, suspiciously alone. She would have preferred there to be more people, so she could make a scene, but now that she had found him it would have to do, after all it had taken her most of the morning.

"Sirius!" she called out to him, as she ran up the corridor. Sirius didn't reply, he had stopped walking now, and was standing, eyes closed, with his head bowed.

"Sirius!" Lily called again. Still there was no response. "Black, what are you doing?"

Sirius opened his eyes.

"Remembering," he replied, a little bitterly.

"Remembering what?" Lily asked softly. She was beside him now, and looking at him with great concern.

"How long it took to make it!" Sirius roared. His sudden outburst knocked Lily back to her senses again. She must be strong! She must not care about other people's feelings! She must say this quickly before she loses her nerve!

"Sirius I need to tell you something," she said firmly. Sirius cocked an eyebrow at her.

"Go on."

"It's about Caitlin and you're not going to like it," Lily continued. Sirius smirked, turned away from her and began to walk down the corridor.

"If you're here to say that you love her, and you're going beg me to let you have her, then that's great Evans, on the condition that I can watch," Sirius answered mockingly. "If you're here to say... something else, then I don't want to hear it."

Lily looked at the back of his head incredulously.

"What do you mean you don't want to hear it? You don't even know what I'm going to say yet!"

"Oh do I not?" Sirius laughed, continuing to walk. "Look, I was already woken up to hear this story at five this morning. The truth was bizarre enough, so I'd hate to think what your take on it is."

Lily felt the anger running through her, causing blood to race to her cheeks, she was almost the same colour as her hair, she knew it!

"But you haven't heard my side! How do you know they told you the truth?" Lily was rooted to the spot with fury, watching Sirius walk further and further away from her.

"Because funnily enough, and this might come as a bit of a shock to you, I am able to trust my best friend. Evans I feel sorry for you that you can't," he replied pointedly.

"Oh so it was Potter that told you this 'truth' then? Well then, I can't blame you for believing him, I mean we've never known Potter to lie about anything have we?" Lily spat. She'd never known herself to be this angry.

"He wouldn't lie to me," Sirius replied harshly, turning on his heel to face her.

"Oh yea?" Lily almost kicked herself after she spoke. I mean what a stupid comeback?! She wasn't used the confrontations like these and it was beginning to show. Maybe it wasn't such a bad thing there was no one here to witness this.

Sirius smirked, turned and started to walk away again.

"You know Evans, I don't have to justify myself to you. I believe him and that's it. No amount of your whining is going to change that. Again I feel sorry for you that you have no one you can trust like that."

She had lost and she had lost badly. Instead of putting seeds of doubt in his mind, she had planted them in her own. There was nothing else for it, she would have to do something drastic.

"You're the one I feel sorry for Sirius! I saw them kissing!"

Her words had the desired affect. Sirius stopped dead in his tracks. Without turning to face her he spoke again, only this time he seemed to have lost the authority in his voice.

"Can you honestly tell me that you saw James Potter kiss my girlfriend in a way only I should be kissing her?"

Lily answered honestly, though it pained her to say it.

"No."

Not another word was spoken, and Sirius drifted off round the end of the corridor and out of sight.

-----------------

Lily limped defeated back to the Gryffindor Tower. First class was due to start in about ten minutes but she didn't feel she could face it. The anger in her cheeks had been replaced by embarrassment, so she decided to go back to her room and try and sleep it off.

As she entered the portrait hole, past the Fat Lady, three very giggly girls greeted her, all on their way to first class. Lily had already lost one war of words today, but seeing Caitlin's bright, happy face made her want to have another go.

"You!" she breathed. Alice and Scarlet stopped laughing and looked up at her, both eagerly dreaming up ways they could get out of the room. Only Caitlin remained with a supposedly carefree attitude, ignoring Lily's presence. "You know what I hate about you Caitlin Kenworthy?" Lily continued. "Things always go your way. Potter and Black, I mean they're the two most popular boys in the school. You even got James to convince Sirius he's _not_ seeing you behind his back. You'll have to tell us, how did you do it?"

Caitlin threw her one blank look and then turned to Alice.

"Can you wait for me here? I think I've left my quill in my room."

"Don't you run away from me!" Lily screamed, causing Scarlet to jump.

She flew up the girl's dormitory staircase after her, and watched as the end of Caitlin's robes whipped round her bedroom door just before it slammed shut. Lily flung the door open again to find the room empty.

"Caitlin, I know you're here, I saw you come in," she called as she took a few steps into the room. "There's no point hiding from me now."

Suddenly behind her the door slammed again, and she spun round to find Caitlin standing beside it.

"I'm not hiding from you Lils, I'm right here," she said coldly. "And I wasn't running away from you either, I just reckoned that when you came to your senses, you would realise you'd prefer to conduct this conversation without witnesses."

"Why Cait? Are you worried they'll find out what you've done? Are you finally ashamed of yourself?"

"No I'm not ashamed. I just don't want you to make a fool out of yourself in public. You see contrary to your belief, I do actually care about you, Lils," Caitlin replied, in what Lily thought was the most uncaring voice ever.

"You care about me? Ha! Don't give me that! I'll tell you why you don't want _me_ to make a fool out of myself in public Cait, it's so you can have that job all to yourself. You don't like James, I know that, but getting off with him just because I do? That's low Caitlin, that's really low."

Caitlin bit her lip, and then walked over and sat on her bed. Lily was pleased at how well she was handling herself in this argument. Sirius Black was of course the King of Confrontation so she shouldn't really have expected to win over him, but now? Well now she thought she had a definite chance of winning this, but something kept sweeping over her that was telling her she didn't really want to.

"You know what I really hate about you Lily Evans? You always have to be right. Whatever you say goes, and there is absolutely no way of convincing you otherwise. You know, you have absolutely no idea what happened with James and me last night.

"You have no idea that, even though you weren't speaking to me, I went to him last night to try and persuade him not to give up on you, even though you are a stuffy, know-it-all, stubborn cow. You have no idea how we almost got caught by Filch, how I lost that _stupid_ map, or how James' watch got stuck in my hair, leading us to be in the position we were in when you found us last night.

"See you have no idea about any of that, and you probably never will, 'cause in your mind you know exactly what happened anyway. So go ahead believe what you want, I couldn't be bothered with you anymore."

With that Caitlin leaned over the end of her bed, opened her trunk and pulled out a very ostentatious pink and fluffy quill.

"I'm sorry," Lily managed to whisper through the tears that were streaming down her face.

"What?" Caitlin called, still looking through her trunk.

"I'm sorry," Lily said a bit louder. Caitlin sat bolt upright, banging her head off her trunk in the process. "I'm sorry for that too," Lily managed to giggle a bit, whilst watching Caitlin rub the back of her head.

"Oh come here, you daft mare!" she said, stretching her arms out towards Lily. She sat down beside her and they gave each other a hug, Lily still in tears. "I don't know why you're crying, I'm the one with the headaches to end all headaches! First a sugar hangover and now this."

Lily laughed a bit and tried to dry her eyes.

"I'm sorry I'm a 'stuffy, know-it-all, stubborn cow.'"

"Yea, and I'm sorry I'm a 'cold bitch with a heart of glass.'" Lily threw her an inquisitive look.

"I never called you that," Lily stated, sounding quite indignant.

"Yea, but Sirius calls me it all the time." Both girls resolved into giggles, and fell back on the bed staring up at the posters Caitlin had pinned right above her bed. They lay in silence for a while watching some Wizarding Popstars wave and wink at them.

"I'm sorry I interfered with you and James," Caitlin said finally.

"Yea and I'm sorry I reacted so badly to it."

"It was pretty funny though," Caitlin laughed. "Looking back on it I mean. 'Cause it's sorted now right? We're friends?"

"Yes we're friends," Lily confirmed. "And on that note I'm sorry I'm so rubbish at arguments!"

"You didn't do too badly there," Caitlin protested. "You were just wrong that's all."

"Yea well you should have seen me this morning with Sirius!"

"Oh don't worry about that, he gets plenty of practice with me!"

The girls' laughter was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Come in!" they called in unison. Alice and Scarlet slowly opened the door and walked into the room.

"We couldn't hear screaming anymore, and thought you might have killed each other so we came up here to investigate," Scarlet explained.

"Nah everything's fine, we're still alive," Caitlin reassured her.

"So you're friends again?" Alice asked. Caitlin and Lily nodded. "Good, because class started fifteen minutes ago!"

-----------------

Lily ran down the staircase, telling the others she'd meet them in the common room after grabbing her bag from her room. As she reached the bottom of the stairs a familiar face reached the bottom of the Head Quarters staircase directly opposite. James gave her a look that closely resembled a deer caught in car headlights, and then quickly scampered through the portrait hole.

Caitlin's laughter filled the whole staircase as she walked down to just behind where Lily was standing.

"Well Lils, you may have lost against Sirius and me, but there's one boy who still doesn't want to face you!"

"Should I go talk to him? You know apologise, and maybe explain why I said no when he asked me to the ball?" Lily asked anxiously, failing to see the funny side of it.

"Oh I don't think he was too upset about that," came a voice from someone sitting over beside where Alice and Scarlet had dumped their bags.

"And why, Avril, is that?" Caitlin sneered at her.

"Because he's already asked me."

The pink and fluffy quill snapped in Caitlin's hand.

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Well I think that was a bit shorter than usual, but at least I updated! Hope you enjoyed it! Please review!

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**nightwanderer: **It will get better and stop threatening me!

**Carmel March: **Thank you! Hope you enjoyed that chapter as well!

**BurningIce22: **Thank you! And yea I think most people on this site are American!

**Oliverwoodschic: **Lol how can you mean that in a good way? Anyway I'm sorry I didn't actually put that scene in, but I hope you liked what I did do.

**I love truegryffindorgrit:** You are an eegit! Whoo 40mph down the Hillhall Road at night with the radio on! Oh yea!

**Ryuu of the Broken Light:** I'm sorry I didn't update. I'll update sooner next time!

**elements-of-the-soul: **Remember I said 39? Well I think it changed to 41. Anyway it's that long because it's all worked out in my notebook. Don't worry I have it all planned out so it won't get boring. The best is yet to come!

**luvsirius:** Yes I know I hated the last chapter, but hopefully that one was a little easier to read, it's all leading up to something good I promise!

**i cant think of one: **Well it's nice that you keep reviewing thank you. I promise I will keep going even if no ones reading it! It just might take me a while!

**emtwelvem12: **I have AOL because you can get that over here too. Unfortunately I won't be updating my other story for ages cause I'm going to finish this one and then write another sequel before I get to it. In fact I think I might take it down until I'm ready to write it. Anyway thank you for your continuous reviewing!

**Snapesucksman: **Lol thank you so much!

**ebony-plays-the-viola:** Yea I like Caitlin as well, she's the one that's most like me, but I would have told Lily about the Marauders being animagi by now!

**Hobbit: **Thanks! This story is meant to make you laugh! Only there was nothing funny in that chapter :S ! I'll try harder in the one!

**lily: **Thanks for reviewing! You'll have to wait and see about James and Lily... maybe they won't get together! Wouldn't that be the most ridiculous fanfic ever? If they didn't actually get together in the end? ...Ooooo I might do that!

**riotgirl72: **Ok now I like the films but they change too much stuff to make it 'Hollywoodised'. JKR said in an interview he was a chaser and that's good enough for me. Personally I think it would be a little corny if he played the same position as Harry anyway!


	21. To Azkaban, With Love

Well another day another chapter!

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Chapter 21 : To Azkaban – With Love

It was the following Thursday at lunchtime, before James ventured into the Great Hall again. He had been informed of Sirius' run in with Lily, and anxious not to go through it himself, had spent all meals times and any spare time locked up in his room. It had taken until Wednesday night for Sirius and Remus to convince the house-elves not to bring him food to his room anymore, and James had lasted less than a day on an empty stomach.

There was much cheering from the Marauders as he took his seat beside Sirius.

"Told you he wouldn't last past lunchtime!" Peter squealed excitingly, whilst pointing his finger at Sirius.

"Yes but you didn't specify which lunchtime Wormtail, you could have meant lunchtime tomorrow, so the five Galleons is still mine," Sirius replied smoothly. Peter sat back dejected in his seat. "See that wasn't difficult was it?" he continued, turning his attention to James.

"Yea, so far so good," James replied, whilst casting a wary eye round the room. "Did I miss anything?"

"What you mean when you placed yourself in solitary confinement?" Sirius laughed. James nodded feebly. "Well Caitlin and Lily are friends again so you're off the hook." James gave an audible sigh of relief.

"When did that happen?" he asked, whilst tucking into some mash potato.

"The morning after," Sirius said with a grin. James let his fork drop out of his mouth.

"You mean I've locked myself in my room for nearly a week? Dreaded coming out for classes and my Head Boy duties? And this was all sorted the day after?!" The rest of the Marauders fell about laughing. "Oh you know what, screw you guys!" James started back into his mash potato as the others began to compose themselves.

"You know maybe we were protecting you from something else!" Sirius whispered into James' ear, as he felt someone grab his left hand.

"Jamie," drawled a sickly sweet voice into his other ear. "Haven't seen you in a while, where you been?"

"Uh..." James didn't quite know how to react in a situation like this, he looked around the table for some help from his friends but got none. "Well..."

"What he means Avril, is that 'that is none of your business, so would you please fuck off?'!" James and Avril turned around at the same time, to find Caitlin standing directly behind them.

"Thank you," James mouthed to her. It wasn't exactly the way he would have put it but he was grateful all the same.

"Avril move, James and I need to talk," Caitlin ordered. Avril was obviously smarter than she looked, because she did exactly as she was told, and moved down the bench enough so Caitlin could sit between her and James. "Move further," Caitlin barked again. "I can still smell you," she added under her breath. Avril moved further down the table and joined in a conversation with some 5th years.

"Jamie," Caitlin said as soon as she was out of earshot, mimicking her drawl perfectly. She grabbed James' hand as well, but this time it felt more like he had it trapped in a vice.

"You know, it was a lot sweeter when she did it," James said pointedly.

"Oh sorry," said Caitlin in mock concern. "Am I hurting you James?" She lifted his hand off the table, and brought it back down with a tremendous thump.

"You know, as your Head Boy, I forbid you to break my hand," James protested, wincing through the pain. He also took the time to notice that his friends were doing absolutely nothing to stop this.

"So it's true then?" Caitlin asked sharply, letting go of his hand.

"Is what true?" James knew exactly what she was talking about, but he thought his best chance of survival was to feign ignorance.

"That your going to the ball with Avril," Caitlin hissed. James nodded. "You asked _THAT_ to a ball?!"

"No!" James answered boldly. "That's not true, I didn't ask her! So you can't be mad at me now!" James turned back to his potato, hoping desperately that this conversation was over.

"So she asked you then?" James nodded again, his mouth full of potato. "And did you say yes?" James was about to give her an answer when Sirius interrupted.

"Cait, I don't mean to be rude, but it's a bit obvious that he said yes," he pointed out.

"Yes I know that's the obvious answer, but I was hoping that he actually said no and she mistook him. That would mean we could sort out this horrible mess quickly. Now we're going to have to do it the hard way."

"What do you mean?" James asked a bit fearfully.

"Well James, you're going to go over there right now and tell her you're not going with her."

"WHAT?! I can't do that! That's awful!"

"Yea, I mean it's only two weeks 'til the ball," Sirius added.

"And it's almost Christmas," Remus continued. "'Tis the season for good will among men." Caitlin gave him a disdainful look. "No good will in you Caitlin?" She continued her look. "Alright then." She turned her attention back to James.

"Go over there now," she said reaching for his hand again, he snatched it away just in time.

"No," he replied firmly. He was after all, Head Boy, Quidditch Captain and a member of the Marauders, and there was no way he was going to let himself be pushed around by some girl, especially when she wasn't even _his_ girlfriend.

"Do it!" Caitlin ordered again.

"Cait, why should he?" Sirius asked a little tetchily.

Caitlin smirked.

"Because if he doesn't," she replied coolly. "I'll go and stand on top of the teachers' table and announce to the whole school that the Head Boy is an illegal animagus!"

James and Sirius gasped in mock horror, while Peter let out a strangled whimper. Remus, meanwhile, seemed to turn a funny grey colour. James placed his hand in front of him across the table.

"Moony relax, she won't actually," he reassured him.

"You sure about that James?" Caitlin asked, slowly raising her eyebrow.

"Nah, you're bluffing," Sirius confirmed, placing an affirming hand on James' shoulder.

"Well, we'll see," Caitlin replied cryptically.

"Caitlin, I don't think you understand," began Remus, ever the voice of reason. "If you tell about Prongs, he won't lose his badge or get detention or anything like that. Hell, he won't even be expelled. If you tell, he'll be put in Azkaban."

Everyone shuddered at the very thought.

"Yes, exactly Caitlin. Are you telling me if I don't go and tell Avril I won't accompany her to the ball, you're going to put me in Azkaban?"

Before Caitlin could answer, Professor Dumbledore rose to his feet and the whole room fell into silence. The expression he wore was very grave, and James was sure he was not the bearer of good news.

"School your attention please," Dumbledore asked, as he clapped his hands together. "I'm afraid that it is my duty to inform you that there has been another attack by Lord Voldemort. A number of pupils' families have been affected. They have been informed and are at the moment being counselled by members of the Ministry.

"In this recent climate, it has been decided by myself, and the rest of the staff, that it would be most beneficial for you all to return home at Christmas to spend some time with your families. Because of this, it is with great sadness that I have decided to cancel the Yule Ball."

A great amount of whispering and upset followed these words. Only one figure stood out against the backdrop of disappointment in the hall.

James punched the air with a triumphant fist and then brought it back down again quickly, realising that innocent people had just been killed.

"At least your happy Prongs," Remus said a little bitterly.

"Yea well," James answered, feeling guilty himself. "At least I'm not going to prison."

"At least not for now anyway." With that Caitlin got up and left them, allowing Avril to come racing over to James.

"Oh no!" she squealed as she sat down beside him, trying to grab his hand again.

"I know," he replied, pretending to scratch his head with it. "It's a big fat bummer." Somewhere behind him, James could hear Sirius stifle a laugh. Beside him, he could see the tears welling up in Avril's eyes.

"Listen Avril... I promise... the next ball... I'll take you, ok?" He would say anything to stop her from crying; her face was ugly enough without it going all red and puffy.

After Avril left, her face beaming, Remus was the first one to question James' promise.

"Look this way everybody wins. We didn't have to watch her cry, and she thinks that I don't think that she's about as attractive as a mountain troll." The rest of the Marauders were clearly not as enthused with his reasoning. "Besides, when have you known Hogwarts to throw any other ball apart from the Yule one? And by next Christmas we'll have left anyway! Honestly, it's win-win!" James finally began to start in properly on his lunch.

"I don't know Prongs," mused Remus. "Sounds like that one is going to turn round and bite you on the arse."

-----------------

A week later it was the last day of term, and a few of the seventh years were a bit regretful that they wouldn't be able to have their final Christmas in Hogwarts.

"It's just not going to be the same you know," moaned Frank Longbottom. "Hogwarts is just so Christmassy, with the decorations and the snow outside."

"Yea I know what you mean," agreed Scarlet.

"And you know what? I would have liked to have spent my last Christmas in Hogwarts with you guys!" he added a bit formally.

"Awwwwwwwh," said the group in unison.

"You mean you prefer us to you're mother, Longbottom?" Remus asked. The group began to laugh a little.

"No," Frank stated firmly. "I love my mother, I'd love to spend Christmas with her. She's not standing behind me is she?" The group began to laugh harder.

"Well, I'm going to have to love you and leave yous," James said, getting up from where he was sitting on the floor of the common room.

"Awh but James you're ruining our moment!" Caitlin protested.

"Yea, but I haven't packed yet so I'll have to go. Why don't you all give each other a group hug while I'm gone?" James answered mockingly.

"Ok," Caitlin replied enthusiastically.

"Yea I'll think I'll go with Prongs," Sirius said quickly, and got up from his seat just as fast.

The two boys walked away from the others and started to head up to James' room.

"So are you going to do it again this year then?" Sirius asked eagerly.

"What? You mean New Years?" Sirius nodded. "Of course, I'll send out the invites next week."

They walked on a bit further up the stairs. Sirius obviously had something on his mind.

"Uh... Caitlin wants to know if you're inviting Lily this year?"

James stopped, and stared hard at his best friend.

"Well whatever, I mean it's your party," Sirius added. They both started to walk again.

"Well, to tell you the truth I'm not sure, but I'll probably not. Just to be safe. If I did I'd probably just end up fighting with her and ruining it for everyone. I mean you wouldn't want me ruining your New Years would you?" He hit Sirius a playful punch on the arm to try and lighten the mood. Sirius looked at him seriously.

"I think you should invite her."

"What?! Why would you want her there? Sure you hate her! You had that big argument with her and everything!"

"I don't hate her," said Sirius categorically. "And I only had that argument with her because she was in the wrong. But then she realised she was wrong and apologised to Caitlin, and for that I respect her. I've even started calling her by her first name and everything," he finished proudly.

"Yea I noticed that."

They had reached the top of the stairs, and the lion cub portrait was waiting patiently for James to give the password.

"Look Padfoot, she may have apologised to Caitlin and you might respect her for it, but she hasn't apologised to me, so I still don't ok?!"

He may have uttered these words a bit too loudly, because just then the portrait swung open and a blur of red hair swept past both boys. Lily wasn't able to look either of them in the eyes, but James could still make out the tears falling down her face.

At that moment his mind was made up whether he should invite her to the party.

* * *

Well there you go another one! I don't know when I'll update again, maybe tomorrow, maybe in four months time. Anyway please review and tell me what you thought! Even if it's bad!

* * *

**nightwanderer: **Look I straightened it out! But I already said in chapter 19 that he was going with someone else, that wasn't a new thing. She was just lying a bit when she said he asked her.

**Carmel March: **Look! I updated really really really soon!

**Oliverwoodschic: **I know I was a bit sad I'd lost it too, but I've written it out again in a new notebook and I like it better this way anyway! So it's all good!

**I love truegryffindorgrit:** Yea whatever you were here when I wrote this! "You a big moose baby!"

**elements-of-the-soul: **No it used to be 39, but because I lost it I had to write it out in a new notebook and now it's 41! Well that's kind of how the conversation went only I see more as –

James walks down the staircase into the common room and punches some first year in the back of the head out of sheer frustration.

Tiny Tim: Hey! My head!

James: Shut up! I'm Head Boy and I can do whatever I want!

Everyone runs out of the room screaming, in case James Avada Kedavra their asses.

James: I hate women! And anything female related!

Avril: James do you want to go to the ball with me?

James: Yes! Because you look like a man!

**luvsirius:** Thanks! Yea I know, it took me long enough!

**CanadianBlueberries: **Well James doesn't care if he breaks Avril's heart either. Thanks for reviewing!

**Jillie: **Hey! We have the same name! I don't understand though? What did I do to Sirius?

**randomfrizzhead: **Yea the characters will fight a lot in this story, I'm a very violent person. Jk! What do you mean by fuzzy feeling?

**Lil Bazza: **A good story without drama is crap! Anyway I hope it's fair now!


	22. Letters

Sorry it took so long, but my computer got well buggered. Anyway on with the story!

* * *

Chapter 22 : Letters 

20th December, 1977

Dear Lily,

Hows your holiday been so far? Looking forward to Christmas? I can't wait; I think my parents are getting me a new broom! Hey, maybe yours will get you an owl? Then I won't always have to write first! Until then, just send your reply back with Delphium, I've already told her to wait for one.

Well things are pretty quiet here. I haven't been out much cause my parents keep making me spend time with them. Three months in Hogwarts has caused them to miss me, I however still wish I was there! I'm really annoyed about the ball; I think it was the only one I had a chance of persuading Sirius to go to!

Write soon and give my love to your mum.

Love Caitlin xx

P.S. Don't let the muggle from hell get you down!

_20th December, 1977_

_Dear Caitlin,_

_My holiday has been all right so far, but I know you are probably having a far better time. I am pretty sure I am not getting an owl this year - even though Petunia does not live here anymore, she is still ruling the roost._

_I have spent most of my time so far running errands that she keeps giving me, whilst she seems to do nothing herself but give instructions. Every time I point this out she keeps guilt tripping me, reminding me that this could be Mum's last Christmas. As if I need reminding of that! Her other main excuse is that looking after that fat husband of hers is a 'full time job'._

_My dad keeps trying to help me with things of course, but his mind isn't quite what it was and he keeps forgetting how to do things. I think the situation with Mum is starting to affect him. I think it's starting to affect all of us._

_I'm looking forward to Boxing Day. It means I get rid of Petunia for a week! She's taking Dad back to Vernon and her's for a few days to give him a bit of a break. It also means that I can spend some time with mum. I've been trying to go and speak to her at night, once I've finished Petunia's little jobs, but every time she's been asleep, so I haven't seen her much since I got back._

_Merlin, that's a lot of my moping! Anyway, hope to hear from you soon!_

_Love Lils x_

21st December, 1977

Dear Lily,

Oh I'm so excited now! I get to miss the usual extended family thing on Boxing Day because I'm GOING TO STAY WITH SIRIUS!!!!!! My parents have just agreed to let me go, they think at 17 I'm mature enough! It's going to be so cool. He's got his own apartment, so we get to get on like we're actually living together for 3 days. I can't wait!

He invited me yesterday, because he said he was missing me over the holidays. That's so sweet, don't you think? He's says we can have our own special Christmas Day on Boxing Day, so I don't get my present from him until then. I have no idea what it could be! I got him some muggle aftershave, a nice big fluffy polo neck and a dog grooming kit for a joke - a private joke. Does that sound all right?

Sorry to hear that your holiday's not going so well, but at least it'll pick up! Now we both can look forward to Boxing Day!

Love Caitlin xx

P.S. Sirius says he has another surprise when he picks me up... any ideas?

_21st December, 1977_

_Dear Caitlin,_

_Well, you could sound a _bit_ more enthused about going to Sirius'! Why did he get his own apartment? He's a bit young is he not? I'm not trying to be patronising I was just wondering. Your parents must be mad trusting you! You must put on a very good façade when you're at home!_

_The presents sound great, although I wouldn't even like to think what that dog grooming kit is about. The obsession with muggle aftershave has got to stop though Caitlin! I wish I'd never introduced you to it! I just hope Sirius hasn't got you the same thing I have, I would be very worried if he had though!_

_I don't have a clue what surprise Sirius could be planning for you, I'm just happy it's not for me! Good luck with it!_

_Write soon, I'm going out of my mind with boredom here!_

_Love Lils x_

24th December, 1977

Dear Lily,

I thought I'd write to you now because I probably won't have time tomorrow, and I definitely won't be writing to you when I'm at Sirius'. Oh it's only 2 more days!

No, I don't think your patronising. He doesn't really get on with his parents, so he left or ran, or got kicked out last year. I never really pressed him for the details. He bought the apartment in August, he was living with James before that. He probably is too young to have his own place, but who cares? We're going to have a great time in it anyway!

I hope tomorrow goes well for you. Don't let boilface and the blob ruin it for you ok?

That's really all I've got to say, I can't think straight I'm so excited!

Merry Christmas!

Love Caitlin xx

_24th December, 1977_

_Dear Caitlin,_

_I never knew that about Sirius, although I suppose why would I? And I thought I had a bad home life!_

_I don't really have that much to say myself, I'm up to my eyes, peeling Brussels sprouts. Have a good time at Sirius'! Maybe we could meet up for New Year? Or are you going to Donegal again?_

_Merry Christmas_

_Love Lils x_

_P.S. Hope you like your present!_

**25th December, 1977**

**Dear Miss Evans,**

**I am writing to you because it is a custom at this time of year for the Headmaster, which is me, to ask the Head Girl, which is you, certain questions, about your term so far, in Hogwarts.**

**I shall therefore, get straight down to business.**

**How did you feel upon being made Head Girl?**

**How do you feel about being Head Girl now?**

**What are your thoughts on being Head Girl in the future?**

**Those were the customary questions, I shall down get to the good stuff.**

**How did you feel upon James William Potter being made Head Boy?**

**How do you feel about James William Potter now?**

**What are your thoughts on your feelings for James William Potter in the future?**

**Please send your reply as quickly as possible.**

**Merry Christmas.**

**Yours sincerely,**

**Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore**

26th December, 1977

Dear Lily,

Yea, I know I said I wouldn't write, but Sirius just arrived - on a giant flying motorbike I might add, but we'll talk about that later - and said that I should write to you straight away and give you this message:

The thing that you thought you got, is not what you really got, and from the person that you think it is from, is not, and that is if you got something which is not from that person, because if you did not, just ignore this.

Did you get that? Because I sure didn't. Anyway if you understood any of that, then write back.

Love Caitlin xx

P.S. He wants you to know that he had nothing to do with it.

_26th December, 1977_

_Dear Caitlin,_

_Tell Sirius that I had already pretty much figured out that that letter was from James, but tell him thanks anyway. Also tell him that his best friend is a weirdo._

_When you get this can you let Delphium deliver the other letter I've sent as well? Anyway don't think about this anymore and go and have a great time at Sirius'!_

_Love Lils x_

_P.S. We _will_ get back to that flying motorbike!_

_26th December, 1977_

_Dear 'Professor Dumbledore',_

_You are an idiot! Do you know that? I don't even know why I'm replying to this! I wasn't going to, but your best friend just wrote to me to warn me about your letter and it's somehow got me wanting to have a go at you for it!_

_You torture me enough during term time, did you really feel you had to intrude on my holidays as well? On Christmas Day no less! In fact, - I still don't know why I'm doing this but what the hell - I'm going to answer your questions. I'll leave out the customary ones shall I?_

_When I heard you were being made Head boy yes I admit it, I was devastated. I couldn't believe that Dumbledore had put such an arrogant prat like you in a position of authority! I mean you already swanned about the school, looking like you owned the place, he didn't really need to reinforce your belief!_

_However, after spending a bit of time with you, I found that maybe I was still holding on to the impression you made on me when you were eleven. Perhaps the stories I had heard about you were a little exaggerated. I found myself warming to you, liking you even, but every time, EVERY TIME, we got a little close you'd go and mess it up again! _

_So how do I feel about James William Potter now? I don't even know._

_How will I feel about him in the future? Well, I suppose you're reply to this letter will sort that out._

_Lily Evans_

_P.S. Just to clarify this, because you're not always good at reading the signs, I'm looking to you to reply to this._

**27th December, 1977**

**Dear Lily,**

**Look I'm sorry. Sirius and I got a little too 'merry' on Christmas Day, and I thought it would be hilarious for me to write you this letter, pretending to be Dumbledore. It's only now I realise how lame it actually was.**

**Again I'm sorry, I didn't mean to 'torture' you on Christmas Day, and I certainly don't mean to torture you at school but I can see where you would get that. You and I always seem to get off on the wrong foot, and I suppose that letter was just another prime example.**

**I know I've been arrogant, and I've definitely been a prat, but I calmed down a lot, which is why Dumbledore made me Head boy. You may only be warming to me now, Lily, but I've always liked you, so when I heard you were Head girl I was delighted. But yes I agree, every time this year when things were looking up I always found a way to mess it up. I mean, that letter was meant to be witty, and spontaneous, and have you laughing all the way into my arms - stupid yes?**

**I may have made a bad impression on you when I was younger, but come on, I was eleven!! As for those stories, well I've heard them too, and most of them are actually Sirius'. I suppose he got so many of his own people passed some on to me.**

**I guess another reason I wrote that letter to you was because my Christmas has been pretty boring so far. The highlight has been getting drunk with Sirius on Christmas Day, and words can't describe how pathetic that is.**

**I'm sorry I'm a loser. You may want to keep this, remember it as the day I cut the bullshit.**

**James**

**P.S. I hope you write back to this.**

_27th December, 1977_

_Dear James,_

_Ok, before you run yourself into the ground completely, take a deep breath. You're not _that_ bad! In fact nobody's _that_ bad!_

_If you're going to cut the bullshit I suppose I should too. I admit that I probably over reacted to that letter a tiny bit. I even admit that I think you and I could be friends if we got to know each other a bit better. I though I'd go first. So here it is Lily Margaret Evans, the truth and nothing but the truth, so help me Merlin._

_I'm 17 and I live in number 3, Lanyon Street, Little Whinging, Surrey, with my mum, Elizabeth, and my dad, Paul. We live in a lovely semi-detached house, with three bedrooms and an indoor toilet â€" oh I know you're impressed! My dad is an estate agent, and my mum is a nurse. I have an older sister Petunia, who is simply delightful - I'm being sarcastic by the way, I don't suppose that comes across in letters - but she doesn't live with us, because she is married to the magnificent Vernon Dursley, who's physique has been known to cause envy in some Beluga whales._

_I'm the first witch in my family, and it was a tremendous shock for us all when I got my Hogwart's letter, although it did explain a lot. My parents got used to it quite quickly though, and think it's a fantastic gift that I have. My sister however, never got round to seeing the positive side of it, and basically made my life at home a living hell until she moved out last year. Anyway because of that, my parents decided against telling my extended family about me, so they think I'm being educated in a private boarding school in Scotland for the exceptionally bright, which I think might possibly annoy Petunia even more._

_Another piece of information you might want to know about me, is that I don't have my own owl, which is why I always reply with yours - who is lovely by the way._

_I think that'll do for now._

_Lily_

_P.S. I always thought all those stories weren't quite you, but Sirius, my God! I'll have to tell Caitlin!_

**27th December, 1977**

**Dear Lily,**

**Yes I know this is two letters in one day but I was just so relieved when I got your last letter I had to write back straight away. **

**I really enjoyed reading about your home life, I guess I've never really thought of you existing outside Hogwarts before. I knew you were a muggle-born, but I never really thought about that either to tell you the truth. It must be so _weird_, just to discover that about yourself one day. Anyway because you let me into your life, I suppose I'll let you read about mine, although it'll probably bored the arse off you.**

**I'm 17 as well, and I live in Godric's Hollow, with my mum, Palaestra, and my dad, Christopher. We live in a detached house, with some bedrooms, and also an indoor toilet - it's great isn't it? My dad, it's hard to explain in a letter, let's just say he runs our family business, and my mum is a lady what lunches. I'm an only child, and from hearing about your sister I'm glad! Sirius lived with me for a bit last year, and that's the closest I've come to having a sibling, but he's left now and so I'm all alone again.**

**I don't have any horror stories about finding out I was a wizard or anything. It was pretty much a given thing. My parents both went to Hogwarts, as did their parents before them, and all of my family know I'm a wizard! When I'm at home I spend most of my time playing Quidditch with my dad, or my friends, and now I'm of age, I've been able to pass my apparating test. Boring stuff really. What do you do to pass the time?**

**My owl, is called Harley and he's an eagle owl. I know he's probably sitting in your lap right now, he's very 'affectionate', I'm sorry, if he annoys you just shoo him.**

**Thanks for cheering me up Lily.**

**James**

**P.S. I'm pretty sure Caitlin already _knows_ the stories about Sirius, if you know what I mean.**

_28th December, 1977_

_Dear James,_

_I'm sorry I didn't write back to you last night but I was doing something I couldn't get out of, sorry. I gave Harley some of my cornflakes to keep him going through the night, I'm not really sure what you're meant to feed owls._

_I laughed so much when I read your letter. You think your life is boring? It sounds so amazing to me. I'd give anything to be able to do wizarding things when I came home from school, but unfortunately I can't. Is your dad's name really Christopher? That just struck me as very muggle. I'm so used to sticking out like a sore thumb with my name at Hogwarts, with all the Sirius' and Remus' and Severus' and Narcissas._

_When I'm at home I pass the time watching television, and doing things around the house. I don't really spend much time with my friends, I don't like bringing wizards into the house when Petunia's around and I lost most of my muggle friends when I started at Hogwarts. It was difficult to keep coming up with excuses to hide my secret from them, so we just drifted apart. _

_I suppose the highlight of my Christmas holidays so far has been passing my driving test on my second day back. So now I'm mobile but with nowhere to go. I was meant to drive to Caitlin's to celebrate but now's she gone off to Sirius' and I have no idea where that is._

_You're definitely going to have to explain you dad's job to me more, you've got me intrigued now. What do you want to do after school then? I wanted to be a Healer, but I didn't do Herbology so I'm not sure I'll get accepted now. I just hope something grabs my interest and soon!_

_Write soon._

_Lily x_

_P.S. If Caitlin is involved in any of those stories, I am going to be sick!_

**28th December, 1977**

**Dear Lily,**

**Don't worry about not replying, it just shows how bored I am that I wrote to you twice in one day anyway! Feed Harley anything you want, he's like a vacuum!**

**What do you mean 'wizarding things' when you'****re at home? Do you not do magic at all? Sure you're 17 so you can, right? Yes, my dad's name is Christopher, but I fail to see your point. Some of the names are unusual at Hogwart's yes, but sure I'm James, and there's Peter, and I think someone you know is called Caitlin.**

**Reading your last letter made me really wish I'd taken muggle studies. 'Television' and 'driving test', are things I've heard of but I'm not really sure what they are/do. I don't see why you should be afraid to bring wizards into your house because of your sister, she doesn't even live there! I'm sure Caitlin would love it, all those muggle gadgets! I'm sure she'd give your sister what for as well!**

**Sirius'place is in London, although I wouldn't know how to drive to it, I've only apparated to it myself. I was there today actually, but Caitlin made it clear I wasn't welcome, so I wouldn't go trying to find it if I were you.**

**I don't really know how to explain my dad's job, I'll try and think of a way for my next letter I promise. I want to play Quidditch after I leave school, but I suppose that's what all little boys dream of, so I don't really know what I'll do. You'd make a good Healer I think, I'm sure you'd get in without Herbology, it's a useless subject anyway!**

**I really enjoy getting these letters you know, I think it's the most straight I've ever been with someone in my life.**

**James x**

_28th December, 1977_

_Dear James,_

_Look, now you've got me writing twice in one day! There's nothing good on the television - which is like a radio only with pictures - so I thought I'd write back to you! That's me being sarcastic again by the way, I enjoy these letters as well._

'_Wizarding things'. Well it's a long story but the simple version is that even though I am 17, I don't do magic at home. And with respect to the name debate - which is what it has turned into - I'm going to have to break one of my most valued promises. Caitlin's real name is Ptolemocratia. She uses Caitlin because it's her middle name, and it's a lot easier to say! I can't imagine why Peter is called Peter, but I suppose your called James for the same reason your dad is called Christopher. I think I'm starting to win this argument._

_Caitlin has been to my house before, usually when I know Petunia's going to be out - I really hate to think what Caitlin might do to her. At the moment though it's not a good time for anyone to come over, so she hasn't been over this year at all._

_I can imagine Caitlin's face when you arrived at Sirius'. You probably ruined the two of them playing 'house'! I can't wait for her to get home though, I want to thank her for her Christmas present. I think she's coming home tomorrow, so you should be able to visit Sirius safely then!_

_I'm really looking forward to hearing this explanation of your dad's job, you've built it away up now! I don't even know that if I was accepted I'd really want to be Healer anymore, but I think you've definitely got what it takes to play Quidditch professionally, after what I saw - and we both know what an expert on Quidditch I am!_

_Lily x_

**29th December, 1977**

**Dear Lily,**

**I'm sorry but this letter is going to be really short because I'm up to my eyes here. I'm organising a party for New Years, and my mum's decided I'm old enough to do the whole thing myself now, so it's just me and Sirius running about the place trying to remember where I left the decorations from last year.**

**The first thing is, and now I've checked it with Sirius I finally believe you, Ptolemocratia?!? I've known Caitlin most of my life and I never knew that, although I can see why. I haven't seen my dad for a few days, so I haven't actually got round to asking why I'm called James, so for now I'm going to let you win this 'debate'.**

**The second thing is, I've enclosed an invitation to my party in this letter. Please ignore how ridiculous the invite is, but the main thing is, I would really like you to come. It would really make my night. Please?**

**Hope to see you on New Years Eve!**

**James x**

_**P.S. and Sirius xoxoxoxoxoxoxo**_

- RIGHT PEOPLE THE PARTY OF THE YEAR HAS ARRIVED! I KNOW YOU'VE BEEN WAITING FOR IT! YOU KNOW THE DRILL, INVITE ONLY! BE THERE, OR BE A NOBODY FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE! -

-----------------

Lily didn't know what to write back to James' last letter. She was going to have to tell him, but she didn't exactly know how to, without putting them both back to square one. Her Christmas holidays had been dismal, and the letters from James had been one of the highlights of her days. She had really appreciated him being so open and honest with her, and now she had a nagging guilt that she had not done the same. After all her promises to be straight with him, and 'Lily Margaret Evans, the truth and nothing but the truth', she still hadn't told him that her mother was dying.

It hadn't bothered her so much up until then. I mean she hadn't really been lying to him, she was just... not mentioning it. But now it had changed. She was now going to have to tell a huge lie to get out of going to his party, and now she was riddled with guilt.

She was still thinking of what excuse she could use later on that evening when she went in to see her mother. She had been informed by Petunia that her mother was on a routine, and that it was best for people to visit her in the late morning or the early evening. Lily, wanting to cause as little arguments as possible, had stuck to this, and so usually did housework, or wrote letters to James in the other hours.

She walked into the main bedroom in her house to find her mum already sitting up in her bed waiting for her.

"Hello," Lily said brightly, as she fixed her mother's pillows so she could sit more comfortably.

"Dear, dear, you're three minutes late!" Lily laughed at the joke. Even though she was her mother, she could also see what a fusspot Petunia was. "Well if you're lucky I'll let you have an extra three at the end. Only if you're lucky mind!"

"So how are you feeling today then?" This was a question Lily asked everyday out of habit. The answer was always the same.

"Great. I'm feeling much better." They both knew this was a lie. "So what have you been up to today then? I have of course been following the schedule and have been 'resting'".

"Well, I took up the hem on Petunias dress. Took me ages."

"Couldn't you have sped it up?" her mother asked slyly. Lily looked sternly at her.

"No," she answered flatly. "You know I won't do magic in this house."

This was another thing that Lily hadn't quite explained to James in their letters. Why even though she was 17, she didn't use magic outside of school - well, in her house to be more precise. It all dated back to the summer when Lily had been 13. The next-door neighbours had got rabbits, and attracted by the food, both number 3 and number 5 Lanyon Street had been invested with mice. Petunia had become convinced that it was Lily's doing, and had thrown such a terrible tantrum and caused their parents just distress that Lily had sworn to herself she would never give Petunia the excuse ever again. This meant giving up magic when she was at home, legal or not.

"Lily, what's that in your hand?" Her mother was pointing at a piece of parchment clasped in Lily's left hand. Lily had to look down at it to remind even herself what it was. She had been so worried all day about what she was going to do about it, she had failed to notice she still had James' invitation clamped in her hand - no wonder it had taken her so long to hem up that dress!

"It's a party invitation," Lily said uninterestedly. "Do you want to see it? The ink changes colour." She knew how her mum loved anything to do with magic.

"Who's it from?" her mum asked as she took the parchment, and put on some glasses to read it.

"Boy from school," Lily answered off-handedly again. She was trying to lead her mum away from asking anymore questions about James.

Her mother looked at her and blinked. She was used to Caitlin, and had met Alice, Scarlet and Avril a few times, but she was not used to 'boys from school'. Lily saw a small smile flicker across her face as she looked back down to the invite.

"What are you wearing?" her mum asked, adopting the same breezy tone Lily was using.

"Mum, I'm not going," said Lily, quickly taking the invitation back.

"Why not?" her mother protested. "It sounds like fun, and besides you haven't seen any of your friends in ages."

"Mum, I saw them a few weeks ago, in fact, I spend most of my year with them. I don't need to see over the holidays as well."

"Oh Lily," her mum scolded. "You see them during school. That's not the same. You need to see them, have a bit of fun, relax a bit."

"No, look I came home to spend time with you, and dad, and I've hardly seen Petunia at all since she got married."

"Lily you're just making excuses."

"No I'm not, I - "

"Lily," her mum interrupted her, taking her by the hand. "I'll still be here when you get back," she continued, looking straight into Lily's eyes.

Lily felt like telling her not to be silly, that she hadn't even been thinking about that, but the truth was that her mum had just hit the nail on the head.

"You promise?" Lily whispered.

Her mum nodded.

-----------------

When Lily got back into her room that night she found that it was after midnight. After telling her mum more about who would probably be at the party she had decided to tell her the whole story with her and James. Her mum had thought it was the best news she heard in ages and had therefore wanted to discuss it in much detail - blowing the schedule completely out the window.

As Lily sat down on her bed she noticed that Harley had fallen asleep on top of her wardrobe, waiting for the reply. Lily thought it would be rude to wake him, so she decided it would be better to write back to James in the morning. She would just tell him that she had been too busy, which was true, I mean she had been far too busy analysing every conversation they'd ever had with her mum, to reply to him.

-----------------

The sound of irritable flapping and hoots of annoyance woke her the next morning. Caitlin's owl Delphium had flown in through Lily's open window and was in the middle of a battle with Harley. It was obvious the pair had already come across each other and didn't get on.

Lily tried to stop the squabble that had arisen in the middle of her bedroom floor, by grabbing Delphium by the leg and yanking her away. Affronted that she had been treated in such a way, Delphium gave Lily her letter as quickly as possible and promptly flew back out the window.

Instead of worrying how she was now going to reply, Lily decided it was best to read the letter first.

30th December, 1977

Dear Lily,

I know I've been absent from your life for a few days, but you could have spared me the shock of coming back to find that your whole world has changed! You and James, are now pen pals or something, is that right? How did that happen? Sirius told me about it yesterday, but as per usual, he was a little sketchy with the details.

Well if you find the time, what with all your letter writing to James, please reply to me, I'm dying to hear what's been going on.

Love Caitlin xx

P.S. See I'm so interested with your news I didn't even mention my few days with Sirius!!

_30th December, 1977_

_Dear Caitlin,_

_Look I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but I had no way to reach you, so you can't blame it all on me!_

_Yes it's true, James and I have become 'pen-pals'. Remember that letter Sirius got you to write to me, about the thing you didn't get? Well it all started from there, and we've been writing to each other everyday since. We've been really honest with each other in the letters, and to be truthful they've been all that's been keeping me going. It's so much better than when we're at school, there's no one else to interfere for starters! _

_I'm really glad you've written actually, because James just invited me to a party on New Years, did you hear about it? Anyway, my mum said I could go, but I don't really know how to get to it, so can I go with you? Oh Caitlin, I really want to go, I need to see him in person, I'm tired of hiding behind the letters._

_Please write back quickly. I need to know how I'm going to get there!_

_Lils x_

Lily looked at Harley for a moment. There was nothing else for it, she was going to have to get him to deliver the letter to Caitlin, and then ask him to come back to her with the reply. There was no point writing her reply to James, as she didn't even know if she would be able to go yet. She would write that when Caitlin replied.

Sending her reply off with Harley, Lily got dressed and went about the daily housework.

-----------------

It was later on that night, and Lily was in the bath. She still hadn't received a reply from Caitlin, and whilst sitting worrying she might have told Caitlin about a party she wasn't invited to, the lights when out.

"LILY!" she heard her mum yelled from her room.

"It's alright, I'll go and check it out!"

Lily somehow managed to make it out of the bath and down the stairs in complete darkness. She drew back the curtain in the living room, to find that the street outside was lit only by a full moon. All the street lamps were out - it was a power cut.

After she had shouted back up the stairs to explain to her mum, Lily plonked herself down on the sofa in the living room. There was nothing else for it but to sit and wait, still sopping wet, with only a dressing gown wrapped round her.

A few hours later, Lily was still waiting. The men from the electricity board had arrived and were busy working outside down a manhole, trying to rectify the problem, but with little success. The more Lily sat the more she was willing them to succeed. The reason for this was because at 17 years of ages, Lily Margaret Evans was afraid of the dark. She had no idea why this was, because as Caitlin had pointed out to her many times, she had met ghosts and she knew they were nothing to be afraid of. She thought that it perhaps had something to do with the fact that in the dark, every slightest noise is amplified, every tiny creak is deafening, and being a witch, she knew that absolutely anything can jump out at you from the shadows.

In fact, what was that?

'Don't be silly Lily, you're imagining things. It's probably just the men working outside.'

Then what was that?

'It's a reasonably old house, sometimes the floorboards creak a bit.'

CRACK.

'Even I can't explain that one away!'

Lily ran to the window to see if there was anything to explain the sudden noise. Sure enough the workers were now all huddled round the manhole, trying to see just what had exploded. Lily sat back down on the sofa and scolded herself for being stupid. She was just about to go in search of some candles - why she hadn't thought of that earlier was beyond her - when there was another sudden noise. This time a steady rapping on her front door.

She paused. She had just looked out the window and there had been nobody anywhere near her door, so how were they now knocking it? After another minutes hard thinking about her wand, lying up in her room, the knocking was still continuing, so Lily decided to answer it.

She fixed her dressing gown a bit, and ran her fingers through her hair.

Lily had hoped the next time she would see James Potter she would be glammed up to the nines, wearing the perfect outfit and have her hair done just so. She had hoped it would have been at New Years, having the time of her life, and showing him just how she was the life of the party. She would not have wanted to have opened her front door to him, in a dressing gown, her hair only half dried and fluffy, and her skin doing that funny dry thing it did when she had just got out of the bath. Her only hope was that there was still only the light of the moon, and so maybe he couldn't make her out that well.

She stood, hand still on her front door, gawping at him. She blinked repeatedly, willing herself to find the words, but couldn't.

"Hello," came James' soft voice, but she found she couldn't return his greeting.

The men from the electricity board would of course, have to pick that moment to switch the lights back on. They cheered when they realised they had fixed the problem, and cheered even louder when they spotted Lily at the doorway to number 3, in all her 'just out of bath' glory.

Lily, still saying nothing, grabbed James by the arm, pulled him into her house and shut her front door firmly behind her, preserving her modesty from the unruly workers. She continued to stare at James, again with repeated blinking.

"Say something?" James offered cautiously.

"Uh. What?" Lily spat out and then realised how cheeky that sounded. She tried again. "What are you doing here?"

"Now Lily," James began, gesturing his hands out in front of him, as if to calm her down. "I've been debating about this all day, and I decided the best way was to be truthful, because that's what I said I would be, wasn't it? Truthful. Well..." He took a deep breath. "Caitlin didn't get your letter, Harley brought it to me." He stopped and watched her intently, waiting for her to explode.

"Ok," Lily said slowly, thinking back hard to see if she had put anything incriminating in the letter. Reassuring herself that she hadn't, she decided to defuse the situation a bit. "Do you want to go inside?" She indicated her living room; James dutifully went inside and sat down on the sofa.

Obviously satisfied that Lily wasn't going to chew his head off about the letter, James decided to go on.

"Well, in your letter, you said you didn't have a way to get to my party, and also... and also that you wanted to see me in person. Well here I am in person, to take you to my party." He did a little nervous hand gesture, to indicate himself.

"Oh right," Lily said half flattered that he wanted her to come that much, have interested to see what was going to happen next. "How do you propose to do that then, at half seven on a Sunday night?"

"Apparate," James said matter-of-factly. "Same way I got here."

"Can't, haven't passed my test," Lily said quickly.

"Floo then," James answered just as fast.

"Not connected," Lily explained.

"Fly?"

"I don't have a broomstick." Lily was beginning to laugh. James was beginning to despair.

"How the hell do you get anywhere?" he asked, exhausted.

"I drive," Lily smiled.

"Oh right ok, but I don't know how to drive to my house." Lily looked at him disbelieving. "Well, it's not like I ever had to!" he reasoned.

"Well I don't know how I'm going to get there then. Listen James, maybe it's best if I don't go."

"Oh no wait! I just thought, I could ask my mum. She'll know how to drive to it. I'll just write to her - but you don't have an owl..." he trailed off.

"Why don't you just apparate back to her?" Lily suggested.

"That'll take too long, besides, I just thought of something else. Do you have a room I could use?" he asked politely.

"Sure you just stay in here, I'll go and make us some tea?" James nodded, and Lily went to the kitchen, wondering what he was going to do that required her to leave the room, but scared to ask all the same.

She came back a few minutes later, two steaming mugs of tea in her hands. She paused just as she reached the living room door, and listened to make sure that the coast was clear.

"Sirius? Sirius?.... Merlin took you long enough.... Listen where are you?.... That's what I thought. Is my mum anywhere around?.... Can you go and find her?.... It's alright, I'll wait...."

Lily had heard enough. Infuriated that James had come into her house, and decided to use her telephone without permission, she threw the door open quickly.

"Potter, you know that's really very rude - " She stopped and stared. James Potter was standing before her not talking into her telephone, but into what seemed to be a perfectly ordinary hand mirror. With her sudden halt, she had managed to spill one of the teas down herself.

"Oh bugger!"

* * *

God that was long. Anyway I hope you got through it without falling asleep. As always read and review! I want to get past 200 reviews!

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**nightwanderer: **Yea I suppose it had been a long time since I'd written the last time. Anyway the party's coming up in the next chapter and it will be fun!

**Carmel March: **Sorry I didn't update sooner, but at least everyone was reasonably content at the end of this chapter! So no 'poor James' or 'poor Lily'!

**Oliverwoodschic: **Sorry I didn't update so quickly that time, but my computer went mental on me. Anyway rest assured, Lily will go to that New Years party.

**lea: **ok 5..4..3..2..1.. sleep!

**elements-of-the-soul: **Ooo you might be on to something there but you'll just have to wait and see. As always I put my own spin onto everything! Keep coming with the predictions, I love seeing how close you get to what is actually going to happen. And also its ok, because Tiny Tim grew up to be the wizard equivalent of Bill Gates, so he was happy in the end.

**luvsirius:** Well it wasn't four months, but it was still pretty long, sorry! As always thanks for reviewing!

**randomfrizzhead: **Well yea, Caitlin is a bit of a bitch sometimes. I reread my story a few weeks ago for the first time since I posted it, and I have to admit it does kind of give you a fuzzy feeling!

**Lil Bazza:** Oh I know, sometimes she can be really stuck up! Anyway thanks for reviewing!

**Brighton Baby: **Are you in fact from Brighton? It's kool if you are, because I don't think I have any English people reading this story. Anyway I'm going to have to say no to co-writing a story, only because I'm so busy at the moment and this story keeps me on my toes enough. I'm really sorry I don't mean it personally.

**Redneck Horse lover: **Wow, you reviewed a lot. Thanks for reviewing every chapter. Thanks for adding me to your author alerts! I have a confession to make though, I don't actually speak German. I got a girl from my school to translate that me. In short, I have no idea what you said in German. Sorry! Also what does 'highly recommending' the story actually do?

**shortiibaba: **Thank you very much. You read the whole thing in one go? That must have taken hours! Well anyway I'm glad you enjoyed it!

**FaNFicMainIAC88: **They'll be getting together pretty soon-ish. But there will be plenty of cliffhangers after that as well!

**Anne-Evans89:** They do fight a lot, but it makes a better story. You wouldn't read on if they were happy all the time!

**BJ: **Oh I'm your favourite? I'm all happy now! Why do so many people read these at 1 in the morning? I do it too, but I'm just wondering why that is. Anyway thanks for your review!

**orly23: **Thank you very much. Hope you enjoyed that chapter as well, even though it was a bit long.

**LadyofRavindor: **I probably did, I'm sorry, I do proof read it but sometimes it's too late at night and I couldn't be annoyed! Anyway thanks for pointing that out.

**Erin: **Sorry I kept you waiting, but at least it wasn't for four months! Anyway thanks for reviewing!

**Angela Caldwell: **I hope you eventually got to look at chapter 21, and I hope you read this one as well. Thanks for reviewing so much, it really helps push up the review number!

**i cant think of one: **Yea my computers been down for about 3 weeks and it's a pain in the backside, anyway thank you very much.

**ku: **I love getting all this praise. I hope you're able to log in one day! Thanks for reviewing!

**Crazaylady: **It wasn't Caitlin's place to tell James so she didn't. Sometimes she is a bitch but sometimes she is not. I have no idea what Meds are but yes, they probably are stupid!


	23. Wormtail, Moony, Padfoot and Prongs

I'm sorry, I've been busy, it's my New Years Resolution to write more frequently. Merry Christmas btw!!

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Chapter 23 : Wormtail, Moony, Padfoot and Prongs 

"Oh Bugger!" Lily exclaimed as tea spilt down her front. James immediately bit his lip in sympathy for her pain and turned his back to her, desperately trying to hide his mirror from her.

"Uh James, what are you doing?" Lily asked in an accusatory tone.

"Uh, I didn't want to see if your shirt would go see through when wet."

"First of all James, I'm wearing a dressing gown, which is hardly going to go see through when wet as that would completely defeat its purpose, and secondly… you know that not what I meant!"

James inwardly admitted defeat and turned back to face her. His head was spinning with possible explanations for Lily, and also the excuse he was going to give his mother, when her head arrived in the mirror to find James standing in a strange living room, with a girl in her dressing gown, who was now – James felt a lump grow in his throat – patting down her chest in an attempt to dry it.

"Well this is," he began, but was, of course, cut off by his mother's voice.

"James!" she called a bit loudly – she wasn't used to using the mirror. James' mouth flapped open for a few moments like a goldfish. He had two choices. He could try to maintain his reputation in front of Lily, ignore his mother, put the mirror away and pay for it when he got home or… he could talk to his mother in front of his biggest crush.

Lily made his mind up for him.

"Answer it," she all but breathed, obviously not wanting to be heard.

"James!" came another shout.

"Hello Mum," he said a bit warily. "How are you?" He glanced at Lily, who was gazing intently at the mirror and didn't notice.

"James, where are you? Boots just came down from the coach house to say you weren't there, and now Sirius has just handed me _this_, saying that you wanted a word. Now what is it?"

James took a deep breath. This was possibly the worst situation he had ever been in in his life. Well ok, that was a bit of an exaggeration. That time in 5th year when he had had to go down the passage under the whomping willow to stop Snape being killed by Remus had probably been worse than this. And finding out that Remus was actually a werewolf in 2nd year hadn't exactly been a picnic. But at the moment this situation wasn't exactly great.

"Well Mum… the thing is…" He could see his mum giving him a glare from the other side of the mirror. "I went out to pick… something up for the party…" He felt Lily's eyes flicker on to him and then back to the mirror. "Well you see… it's not exactly ready yet… so…" He bit the bullet. "I'm not going to be home tonight, because it's easier for me to wait here for it, and come home with it tomorrow." He closed his eyes and flinched, he had never _told_ his mother what he was going to do in his life, he had always _asked_. "Ok?" he added, trying to soften her a bit.

"James?" his mother replied, sounding surprisingly light-hearted. "This _item_ you've gone to pick up…" She was going to try and trick him out, but James was already one step ahead of her.

'A banner, I've gone to collect a banner' he repeated in his head.

"…what's her name?"

'Damn.'

"It's Lily Evans Mum, you know, the head girl." Somehow, he thought adding that would make the situation sound a bit better.

"Oh." By the tone of his mother's voice he could tell it had. "Well let me speak to her then." Without thinking James immediately held the mirror up to Lily, and then withdrew it just as fast. His eyes met with the thunderous ones of his mother.

"James William Potter, would you like to explain to me what you are doing in a strange living room, with a strange girl dressed only in a bathrobe?!!"

"Mrs Potter, it is really not what it looks like." James was glad Lily had taken it upon herself to sort this out, for he was sure that he would never be able to regain the power of speech and movement ever again. He watched helplessly as Lily took the mirror from him and sat down on her sofa with it, tucking her half-dry hair nervously behind her ears.

"You see Mrs Potter, James only told me he was coming to collect me a few hours ago, and well, silly me I didn't manage to get ready on time. He caught me just as I was coming out of the bath." James watched in awe as Lily fed his mother, what could only be described as complete and utter lies.

"Well could I speak to your parents please?"

"I'm sorry but that won't be possible, Mrs Potter. You see my dad is away for a few days, that's actually the reason I can't leave with James until the morning, I have to wait until he comes back."

"Well what about your mother?"

"My mum hasn't been well this winter, and I'm afraid she is in no fit state to come to the… mirror."

"Well… tell James that it's ok for him to stay until tomorrow morning, but I'll be having words with him when he gets back!"

"Ok Mrs Potter, sorry for any inconvenience."

"Ok. Goodbye dear."

"Goodbye."

There was a slight glow from the mirror and it returned to being a normal household object.

"You're amazing," James managed to splutter.

"And you're useless," Lily replied, handing him back the mirror. "What is this by the way?"

"A two-way mirror, Sirius and I use them to speak to each other when we're in separate detentions." Lily rolled her eyes at him. "Look, thank you so much for that, you really saved me."

"Well I was afraid that the next thing that was going to come out of your mouth would be 'Uh because we were having sex', and I didn't want your mother to think that little of me."

"I would never have said that," James answered defiantly. Lily raised an eyebrow. "Well, maybe if it had been Sirius, but never to my _mother_!"

"Well, I believe you, thousands wouldn't. I guess I better show you where you'll be sleeping."

"I didn't get to ask her how to get to my house though," James remembered, inwardly kicking himself.

"Well, I know how to get us to Caitlin's, we'll figure out where to go from there ok?"

With that, James followed her out of the living room and up the stairs. He watched as she opened the third door across the small landing to reveal brightly pink room, with only a bed, a lamp and an old chair in it.

"My sister's old room," Lily explained. "You should be alright in here."

"Is that why they made you head girl?" James blurted out before Lily could close the door on her way out of the room.

"What do you mean?" Lily asked, leaning on the door.

"Because you can lie so convincingly," James explained. "I mean I always thought it was because of your good grades but…"

"James," Lily interrupted. "How do you know I really am the head girl?"

And with a wink she shut the door behind her.

--------------------------

Something that James had failed to notice in the dark the night before, was that not only did the room have very little furniture, it also had no curtains. It was because of this that James had been awake since seven because of the light, and because there was nothing in the room to amuse him, and he didn't want to go prowling around Lily's house by himself, he had spent a very boring couple of hours sitting on the foot of the bed.

'This must be how muggles live,' he had thought to himself.

At around nine, he was pleased to see the door of the bedroom open a crack.

"Are you awake?" Lily's voice called through it.

"Yes," James called brightly.

"Are you decent?"

"Yes."

The door opened fully to show Lily standing with a tray in her hands.

"Do you want something to eat?"

"Yes.

"Good morning by the way," James said, as Lily handed him some scrambled egg, sausages and toast.

"Good morning," Lily replied. The pair looked at each other, and it was only then it hit them both just how strange this situation really was. Strange because it didn't really seem that strange at all.

-------------------

About an hour later they were on their way. James had met Lily's mother briefly before they left. When Lily had told his mother that she had been unwell this winter she really hadn't been lying. Not to be unkind, but to him she had looked simply awful. He didn't really understand muggle diseases, but he did pick up that this one was serious.

The rest of Lily's family James did not meet. They pulled up in the driveway, just as Lily drove off. In fact James was nearly sure she had timed it to be like that.

"Shouldn't we stop to say hello?" James asked as he watched them get out of their car.

"You can wave if you want," Lily offered. He did so. "That's my dad waving back at you, and that's my sister glaring."

"How do you know? You're not even looking at them!"

"Trust me. I know."

-----------------

About 40 minutes after that, they were travelling down what Lily had told James was called a dual carriageway, and all was silent in Lily's brown Mini. In fact the only time anyone had spoken was when Lily had told James that this road was called a dual carriageway.

"So…" James sighed. "What's your family like then? Any brothers or sisters?"

Lily looked quizzically at him.

"James, I told you all that in the letters."

"Oh so we are allowed to mention them then? I thought you were pretending they never happened."

"Look I'm sorry," Lily replied, her posture relaxing a bit at the wheel. "I guess I'm still finding this a bit weird. I mean yes I know we're friends in the letters, but those are the letters, and this is like… well this is real life, and its hard to merge the two. Do you know what I mean?"

"Yes," James lied.

"Really?"

"No." Lily looked a bit upset at this. "Look, I know what'll we'll do," he added quickly. "I'll ask you a question, something I didn't ask in the letters, and then you ask me a question, and this time we'll get to know each other in… real life."

And so it began. About an hour and a half later they were still going strong. Lily was laughing so hard she was finding it hard to drive in a straight line.

"I can't believe you believe in Santa Claus!"

"I can't believe you don't!" James retorted. "Lily, you're a witch, you know magic is all around us! OF COURSE THERE'S A FRIGGIN' SANTA CLAUS!"

"And he lives at the North Pole and everything?"

"Well no, the muggles made that up. Actually he lives just outside Bolton."

Lily laughed even harder.

"Well anyway it's your turn."

"No it's not," James argued. "You asked me did I believe in Santa, I said yes, and then I asked you did you not, so it's your turn."

"Well I hardly think that counts but alright, I've just thought of a good one anyway."

She took a deep breath, whilst James pretended to brace himself by grabbing on to the dashboard.

"What does your nickname mean?"

"What do you mean?" James managed to say calmly, inside his head he was screaming.

"What does Prongs mean? What does it stand for? How'd you get it?"

"I can't tell you." It was the first time in the game that a question hadn't been answered, and it was clear that Lily wasn't going to stand for that.

"James no fair, you have to tell me, I promise whatever it is I'll not tell anyone, not even Caitlin."

"Caitlin knows already," James found himself saying before he could stop.

"Well then you _have_ to tell me!"

It never even crossed James' mind to tell her the truth, there was not just his own freedom at stake here, but that of his friends, and he would never put that at risk.

"It's really embarrassing."

"Go on," Lily coaxed.

James muttered something incoherent.

"What?" Lily asked loudly.

"It's because I'm really horny," James said a bit louder. Lily looked at him a bit uncomfortably. "Not right now, obviously! I mean when I was younger, when I got the nickname."

"I don't get it," Lily stated after a brief pause.

"Prongs," James made a gesture on his head like antlers. "Horns, horny. You get it now?"

"Oooooooooh right! Are they all like that then?"

"What? You mean are all men horny?… Basically yea…"

"No!" Lily stopped him. "I mean are all the nicknames, you know, from stuff like that?"

"Stuff like what?"

"You know… sexual innuendoes?"

James laughed so hard that no sound came out.

"Sexual innuendoes?" he managed to splutter after a while. "I've never heard it said like that before!"

"Shush! Don't laugh at me!" Lily reached over and punched him playfully in the arm. "Come on then, what does Wormtail stand for?"

"Lily that's more than one question."

"Shush!"

"Oh alright then." James pointed towards his groin. Lily took her eyes off the road for a moment to see what he was pointing at.

"What? … Oh my God! That's disgusting!" she yelled, shuddering.

"Yes it is, so if he ever offers to show it to you say no!"

"I doubt he ever would, but thanks for the warning," Lily giggled. "Right so what about Moony?"

"Think about it," James said slowly. He had run out of ideas, he was going to have to let her make this one up herself. "What do you think it means?"

Lily pondered for a while, then suddenly formed her own conclusion about the name.

"Oh Merlin! Really? Is that how he got that?" Lily laughed in apparent disbelief.

"I know, disgraceful isn't it?" James nodded. In reality he had absolutely no idea what conclusion she had come to, but by her reaction he was pretty sure it wasn't 'werewolf'.

"But I've never seen Remus moon anyone in my life."

James' eyes widened as he realised what she had just said, and how he was going to explain this to Remus when he saw him next.

"Yes well," he gave a slight cough. "You wouldn't have, he disguises himself when he does it doesn't he? You wouldn't have known it was him." He gazed intently out of the car window, pretending to be taking in the passing countryside, praying she wouldn't ask anymore about this.

"But James… I don't think I've ever seen anyone moon anyone in my life."

James sighed to himself and turned back round to face her.

"Look do you want to know the truth? Do you think you can handle it?" Lily nodded fervently. "Huge. Ministry. Cover-up." James gave a pompous little nod and turned back to the window. Lily hit him on the shoulder.

"What do you mean? Huge ministry cover-up?!"

"Well," James answered, sounding very 'all-knowing'. "Every time he does his… 'public displays' they are just that, _very_ public." Lily's mouth opened in mock horror. "Ministry officials are called in and everybody's memory is wiped. I mean, he does it all the time, sorting hat, Halloween feast, Yule ball. You will have seen it, you just don't _know_ you've seen it, but Sirius, Peter and I? We know man, we _know_!" Lily started to laugh again and James joined her.

"James William Potter, you know, I think you just might be pulling my leg."

"You know, Lily Margaret Evans, I think I just might be." The pair looked at each other and smiled.

"Right well what does Padfoot mean then?" Lily continued.

"Merlin, are you never going to give this up?" James yelled, exasperated. "Maybe it's because he prefers wearing notepads to shoes or something, even I don't know anymore!" He slumped into his seat, pretending to be exhausted. "Are we there yet?"

"Yea we're almost at Caitlin's and then you're going to have to lead me from there, ok? Now sit up, it's your turn!" Lily barked at him, sounding a bit like his mother.

"Ok," James groaned, shifting a bit in his seat. "What's wrong with your mum then?" James watched as Lily kept her eyes dead set on the road ahead.

"Nothing," she said flatly. "She's just got a bit of flu that's all, she should be fine by the time I get back."

James had the distinct impression he wasn't the only one lying anymore.

---------------

About 20 minutes after that, they were driving just along side Caitlin's house. It was a tall, black building, about four storeys high, and stood by itself on top of a slight hill. There was a circle of trees surrounding the whole property, preventing you from seeing the bottom two storeys from the road, and James had always felt that entering the house was like stepping back 100 years in time.

"Do you know you're way from here?" Lily inquired, startling James a bit. She hadn't spoken much since James had asked about her mother.

"Yea, take the next left, it's not very far from here." Lily did so, and they were greeted by the picturesque vision of the tiny village of Godric's Hollow.

"Wow," Lily exclaimed quietly. "This place is really quaint, isn't it?"

"Yea," James half-heartedly agreed. "Have you not been here before?"

"No, I've never been past Caitlin's house. To be honest, I never really wanted to go into the village in case I ran into you," Lily admitted, rather embarrassed.

"Sorry," James mumbled, not really wanting to think of a time when Lily would rather have avoided him. "The truth is I rarely go into the village myself." James shifted a bit in his seat again. "The locals all think my family's a bit… mad." Lily looked quizzically at him. "Well, the gates to my house are just on the other side of the village," he tried to explain. He paused for a moment. "You'll understand when you see them."

And soon enough they were there, at James' gates. With the two familiar giant golden snitches, one on each gatepost, looming above them.

* * *

Right there you go, hope you could all remember what was actually going on in this story, I'll try to update again soon I promise.

Please Review!!!!

* * *

**orly23:** Sorry that chapter wasn't as long. I'm pretty sure the next one's going to be really long though. Thanks for reviewing!

**Ron's Only Girl: **Thanks for translating that German, I am so bad at languages! I don't know what have the stuff on this site does!

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**Oliverwoodschic: **Ok there are no more planned chapters with just Caitlin/Sirius, but they'll come back into the story big time at the party. However, there's going to be loads more Lily/James.

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**ebony-plays-the-viola: **Well hopefully four months later you've calmed down a bit from the last chapter! And please yes, recommend this to strangers on the street!!!! No I don't think you're a maniac fanfic reviewer, but thank God you don't know where I live!

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**Cyclone Ami: **Well James is going to stay a lot nicer… most of the time anyway. Hope you enjoyed that chapter!

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	24. New Year's Eve

Sorry for the delay! But I am writing this on my new laptop!

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Chapter 24 : New Year's Eve 

As Lily pulled through the gates she couldn't fight back the feeling that the gateposts were not going to be the only surprises that she would find on this weekend.

"Uh James?" Lily said, trying to remain calm.

"Yea I know," James replied, a bit flippantly. This annoyed Lily slightly.

"But… the muggles… can they see them?"

"Yep," James answered casually again. Seeing the look on Lily's face he continued. "I told you they thought we were a bit mad," he shrugged, trying to laugh it off. This annoyed Lily even more.

"But what about the secrecy act!" she all but shrieked. She had already made up her mind that because James' family were such respected and probably rich people, that the ministry had probably been 'persuaded' to overlook this breach of the act.

"Well they just think they're unusual sculptures don't they? Honestly, I hardly think they're going to guess there's an entire secret civilisation living amongst them by looking at a gatepost!" Lily huffed slightly at the fact James' logic was probably right, and tried to steer the conversation to a less confrontational topic.

"So why are they there then?" She was hoping he could come up with a decent excuse and redeem himself slightly. Merlin knows Lily did not want to fall out with him now, not now they were finally beginning to see eye to eye.

"An ancestor of mine invented them." Even Lily could accept that as a very reasonable explanation.

Nodding in acceptance, and bringing herself back to what she was meant to be doing – driving – Lily realised that they had been going along the same road for a while with still no sign of a house. Just then, the trees that had been surrounding them cleared a bit, and Lily could just make out a large stone building looming over them in the distance, with a long sweeping lawn running up to it. It looked like a miniature Hogwarts.

"What did you say your Dad did again?"

James laughed, and Lily felt a tingle run through her.

* * *

Pulling up along side the house a few moments later Lily was just about to park beside a large fountain. 

"No, don't stop here, go on round the back" James said suddenly.

"Ok," Lily said, accelerating again. "Why? Aren't we going in?"

"No. Well we are, but not the main house. The party's in the coach house. That way we can get as rowdy as we want and not annoy my parents."

'Coach House!' Lily thought. She had thought James was rich but not _this_ rich.

* * *

"Lily!" someone shrieked, and she felt herself being flung backwards. James and Lily had just walked into the coach house, which Lily was pleased to see was far more modest; although she reckoned she could still fit her house inside it. 

She felt James hands grab her shoulders so to steady her and whatever had caused her to lose her footing, but he quickly removed them, so she continued falling back. Flat on her back, she spat out some long blonde hair and took a good look round her. She was now able to make out a slightly too excited Caitlin lying on top of her, an obviously mortified James, and Sirius Black having a good laugh at them all.

"So you're back then?" he stately simply, tilting his head to one side, staring at Lily, but obviously directing the question towards James.

"Did you know Lily was coming?" Caitlin inquired, rolling off Lily and propping herself up on the floor to look at Sirius. Lily noted the way Caitlin made this look rather natural, and was sure that she looked like a sprawled mess lying beside her.

"I had an inkling," Sirius answered, eyeing James. James, who Lily supposed was still feeling a bit stupid for letting her fall over, did not return his stare.

"Uh do you want to help me feed Jaffa?" he asked Sirius, obviously keen to get out of the room.

"Yea ok," Sirius answered, smiling slyly at him. "Would you like a hand up first?" he added mock politely to Lily.

"Yes please," Lily nodded. "Who's Jaffa?" she asked as Sirius pulled her up by the arms. Caitlin stayed on the floor.

"James' Shetland pony," Sirius answered.

"You have a Shetland pony?"

"Yea," James answered shortly. When he didn't offer anymore information Lily was forced to question him again.

"Why?"

"I don't know," James laughed annoyingly and looked at Sirius. "Because it's cool, I suppose."

Lily didn't understand why he was being like this. In the letters he had been so decent and down-to-earth, even in the car journey it had great between them, but now – she hated to admit it – he had gone back to his 'usual cocky self'.

"It's not cool," she said icily. Caitlin seemed to shift a bit and stared hard out the window, and Lily was sure she had just seen Sirius roll his eyes.

"How would you know? How many people do you know with a Shetland pony?" James answered, seemingly light-heartedly. Lily was sure he was trying to stir her away from a full blown argument, but his conceitedness meant that he couldn't let her win this heated discussion either.

"I would have to say that there would be only you James," Lily replied, with a slight smile, trying to appear light-hearted too.

"Well Lily now you have to admit, he is pretty cool," Sirius interjected. "Prongs come on." And the two boys left.

Hearing the door shut behind the two of them Caitlin was the first to speak.

"What the hell was that?"

"I honestly don't know," Lily answered, slumping down on an old sofa.

The building she had just entered appeared to be just exactly as James had described it – an old coach house, where the horses and carriages would have been kept years ago. However, finding that they no longer needed it for this use, it appeared that the Potters had renovated it, making it into a place, that Lily assumed James used to chill out and get away from the main house. The place was littered with old sofas and chairs that didn't match, most of which were either threadbare or had stuffing poking out of them. There were other odd items of furniture and ornaments, which had outworn their purpose in the main house and so had ended up here. The ceiling still had the original rafters visible, and there were three giants rugs laid across the floor instead of a carpet. The walls were decorated with Quidditch posters, which were attached crookedly to the raw stone underneath.

"I thought the two of you were getting on better?" Caitlin asked, bringing Lily back to her senses. "I mean, the whole letter thing, and when you arrived here with him, I mean I just thought…"

She didn't need to finish. Lily knew exactly what she had thought. She felt the need to explain herself when she noticed the look of upset on Caitlin's face. She realised that Caitlin wanted her to be with James, probably just as much as she did.

"No, look your right, we have been getting on better," she said earnestly, looking down at Caitlin, who was _still_ on the floor. "I mean the way down in the car was great as well." She sighed to herself. "I don't know, maybe he was just showing off in front of Sirius or something?" She didn't know if she was trying to reason that to herself or Caitlin.

"He wasn't the only one showing off Lily," Caitlin answered, giving a slightly McGonagallistic glare.

* * *

As the night proceeded, and the party got underway, things between Lily and James did not improve any. Not that they had seen each other much to let things get better. They had arrived at the house at three, and James and Sirius had not come back from feeding Jaffa until about half past four. They had then spent most of the time getting things ready for that night, while Lily and Caitlin had sat and chatted about their Christmas. The first guests – Peter, Frank and Alice – had arrived at about six, and the rest had been arriving in dribs and drabs ever since. 

Most of the guests Lily knew from other houses in her year, although she noticed the distinct lack of any Slytherins. She also noticed quite a few people who had been a year or two above her at Hogwarts, mainly boys. There weren't many people from the years below her, but Caitlin had informed her that all the house Quidditch teams had been invited – minus Slytherin of course. Overall the place was heaving.

This being the first time Lily had really socialised with wizards – well anybody her own age really – outside of school, she wasn't really sure how to act. Caitlin had left her to fend for herself after briefly explaining who everybody was, and then traipsing off to sit with Sirius. Lily could make out James sitting with his back to her sitting with his closest friends. People would often go up and talk to him for a while, James not moving from his chair. After a while they would leave and somebody else would go up to talk to him. Lily thought it looked a bit like a scene out of the Godfather.

After a while the place got so packed that Lily could no longer see James. She found herself sitting in a circle of people, listening to a lengthy discussion about anything and everything, but not really contributing anything to it. After a while people started to drift off to other parts of the room, either to get a drink or just to talk to other people. Nobody asked Lily did she want anything, and nobody offered to let her join their new conversations. In fact Lily was just beginning to wonder if she was imagining the strange looks she was getting when Robbie Brown came to speak to her.

She smiled at him, glad that finally someone was going out of their way to talk to her.

"Uh Lily can you do me a favour?"

"Yes," she replied brightly.

"Can you watch Leanne for a bit? Seeing you don't seem to be doing much else." Lily felt her smile falter a bit.

"Yea Robbie, of course." At least now, she reasoned, she wouldn't be sitting by herself.

The small blonde third year sat down beside her, and looked glumly at the floor. Robbie patted her on the head, winked at Lily by way of thanks and waltzed back into the throng of the party.

"So are you having a good time?" Lily asked, eager to start some sort of chitchat.

"About the same as you," Leanne muttered, not looking at her. Lily gave a soft laugh.

"Yea well, how did you end up being dragged along then?"

"Rob," Leanne sighed as she sat back in her seat and rolled her eyes. "Well, I was invited by James before Christmas, out of politeness I suppose. I wasn't going to come though, I don't think James really expected me to. He hasn't spoken to me at all, all night."

"You're not the only one," Lily muttered under her breath. Leanne smiled slightly and continued.

"Robbie made me come though, said it would be rude not to, but I know the real reason he made me," she ended bitterly screwing up her face.

"Oh?" Lily said, vaguely interested.

"He treats me like a commodity, something he can show off. 'My sister plays for the Gryffindor quidditch team you know.' Yea, as suppose to just _commentating_ on it!"

"Ouch, that's a bit close to the mark don't you think?"

"Yea well, I'm allowed to say that. I'm annoyed at him. He drags me out to this party, then gets bored with me after two hours and leaves me all by myself!" Lily could feel herself warming to Leanne, she seemed to like to rant just as much as she did. "But that's enough about Robbie, I no longer have a brother. What about you? Why are you here?"

Lily was left a little confused by the sudden change of conversation but went along with it anyway.

"Uh I was invited, just like you, so I came." Leanne eyed her suspiciously.

"Is that it?" Lily eyed her right back.

"What do you mean 'is that it?' Yes that's it!" Lily replied, feeling like she was in the inquisition.

"Oh it's nothing, just that the rest of them have been talking about you all night," Leanne replied breezily, staring at a table stocked with butterbeers on the other side of the room. "I just picked up that there was some controversy over you being here, but maybe I was wrong," she added slyly.

"Why? What have they been saying?" Lily knew Leanne was playing her, and she should act like she couldn't care less, but she was really intrigued as to find out why she was being treated like a leper. She was, after all friends with most of these people, and even Alice and Scarlet had barely spoken to her all night. Caitlin was excused by the fact that Lily knew she liked to get round as many people as she could at an event like this, although that was not much of an excuse.

"Well," Leanne said, rounding on Lily, and making it look like she was about to get down to business. "I'm not really sure because it's not that they were talking about it to me, more like over the top of me". Leanne made a gesture to indicate her shortness. "The main theme, however, is why would you turn up if James and you don't even get on? One theory I heard is that you were here because you were staying at Caitlin's and she couldn't leave you in the house on your own. Another is that you're here because there's something going on between Remus Lupin and you, and you've been left on your own all night because he's not actually here." Lily looked around and noticed for the first time that this was true. "Although my personal favourite is that you were sent here by Professor Dumbledore to keep an eye on us all and make sure nothing got out of hand."

Lily had managed to keep a perfectly straight face throughout this barrage of information. Now finished, Leanne looked at her eagerly, waiting for her to respond.

"Well I can honestly say," Lily replied coolly. "The answer is none of the above." Leanne blinked at her for a moment, and then sat back in her seat, apparently unperturbed.

"Fair enough," she sighed, again turning to look at the table of butterbeers. Lily laughed slightly at how she had just been reminded by a 13 year-old girl, that the politics between James and her were not the most important thing to everyone at this party.

"Do you want a drink?" Lily asked, getting up from her chair and still laughing.

"Yes," Leanne said quickly, glad that Lily had finally picked up on her hinting. "I would get one myself, but I know that as soon as I get up Scarlet will try and tap me for information about you," she explained, and then added: "She won't believe me if I say you didn't tell me anything, and she can get a tad annoying when she wants something."

* * *

It must have been about half eleven before anyone even tried to talk to either of the two girls again. After Lily had returned with the butterbeers the conversation between them hadn't stopped. They had managed to rearrange Hogwarts so it worked more efficiently. Leanne had managed to teach Lily the names of all the teams in the Quidditch League, and more amazingly Lily had managed to learn them. After a while, Lily had felt so comfortable with Leanne that she had told her the whole story with James, but had then sworn her to secrecy. Leanne had then been able to tell her about things she had overheard whilst at quidditch practice with James. None of them were terribly important, but it had been fun trying to extract hidden meanings from them, and trying to relate them all back to Lily in some way. 

"Can I join you?" came a particularly suave voice. It was Sirius.

"Merlin Sirius, are you not feeling well?" Lily mocked him. Leanne started to giggle.

"No I'm fine," Sirius replied confused, whilst taking a seat beside them both.

"Are you sure you want to sit there? I mean the others might see you Sirius," Lily teased him again. "You'll upset the whole hierarchy _that is_ this party!"

"See now you've intrigued me," Sirius replied, cocking an eyebrow.

Lily cleared her throat.

"Well you see Leanne and I have worked out that this party is divided into groups, and each group has its own rules and standards. You must follow the rules and standard of your group otherwise you get demoted to a lesser group."

"That's a bit harsh," Sirius answered, appearing to take this very seriously.

"Yea well, those are the rules Sirius. I mean it's not as though we made up the rules," Lily answered, nodding to Leanne. Leanne remained mute. She probably found it easier talking to 17 year-old girls, than 17 year-old boys.

"No of course not," Sirius responded, holding his hands up to show he was nit trying to offend her. "What groups are there then?"

"Well there's the cool group, that's the group your in." Sirius nodded by way of agreement. "That's the highest group, very select few, only the coolest people allowed in. They sit in a secretive circle all night, and rarely talk to anyone outside of their own group, unless someone approaches them, which is very taboo."

"Yea, you shouldn't really attempt it, unless you've built up a big enough rapport with the 'cool group' member first. Otherwise you might get shot down, which could result in you being demoted to a lower group you see?" Leanne added.

"Yes, I understand completely," Sirius said to her, still looking like this was a completely sane idea.

"Then there's the wannabe cool group," Lily continued. "They mostly consist of people older than us…"

"…and my brother," Leanne interrupted.

"Yes, and Robbie. They're almost cool, but what really gets them is that they think they're cooler than the cool group, so they get a few minus points. Overall they're still pretty cool though."

"Well, lets not tell them about the whole 'not being as cool as my group' thing. I mean just as long as the three of us know. Then it's ok," Sirius added. The two girls nodded in understanding.

"Then you have a whole load of subgroups. Basically divided up between quidditch players, and people who do certain subjects in school," Lily said, brushing over the subject quickly. "And then we get to our current problem. You sitting here talking to us." Sirius tilted his head at her.

"What do you mean? What group are you?" he asked earnestly.

"Well we're the complete reject group," Lily admitted. Leanne pretended to hang her head in shame. Sirius gave a fake gasp in horror. "Leanne here, because she is so young, and me, because everyone thinks I'm a spy for Dumbledore."

"Yea I heard that story too," laughed Sirius. In a second he was back to being completely solemn. "Listen, sorry to hear the two of you are complete freaks."

"No it's ok. We can deal with it," Leanne said, holding up her right hand, as if not to accept his sympathy.

"Secretly we're cooler than all of you, you just don't know it yet," Lily added. "But you should leave now. If anyone sees you here you might be thrown out of the cool group, you might even be demoted as far as to become _one of us_," Lily dropped to a whisper.

"No I think I'll stay," Sirius replied defiantly, settling even further into his seat.

"Why?" Leanne laughed in disbelief.

"Because I'm already at the top, it's too easy," Sirius explained. "If I have to start all over again and work my way up it'll be more of a challenge."

"I admire your courage," Leanne acknowledged.

"But what's the real reason you came over, Sirius?" Lily asked.

Sirius gave a wry smile.

"Caitlin wants to talk to you, she's outside."

"Oh she's finally deigned herself to let me have some of her time then?" Lily asked sarcastically. "Well I better not keep her waiting then. Will you be ok?" she asked Leanne, getting up from her seat.

"She'll be fine," Sirius insisted. "I'll wait with her." Leanne shot Lily a slightly panicked look. Lily returned what she hoped was a reassuring gaze, and left.

* * *

It was only when Lily was outside the coach house, the noise of the party dying away as the door closed behind her, that she realised that Sirius had not told her where Caitlin was waiting outside. And the grounds to James' home were pretty expansive. 

"Caitlin!" she shouted into the darkness. No-one replied. She took a few steps forward, gripping her sides with the cold, and tried to make out any movements around her. Figuring that Caitlin wouldn't have wandered that far into the darkness, she turned round to go back inside.

Just then someone grabbed her arm.

"Sirius spoke to you then." It was not Caitlin's voice but James'.

"Sirius told me Caitlin wanted me," Lily replied bitterly, removing James' hand.

"He probably realised you wouldn't come out if you knew it was me," he replied honestly.

Lily looked at him straight in those hazel eyes.

"He'd be right James." He broke her gaze and she turned to leave again.

"Look Lily… please… don't… I need to talk to you," James pleaded.

Lily turned to look at him again.

"I'm sorry," he said, still gazing at her. "I've been a complete git all night."

"I haven't been that great myself," Lily admitted.

"No, no," James dismissed her. "You've been reacting to me. I've just been sitting playing 'Mr Cool' all night, worrying about what people think about the party, and I've had a crap night. I just…" he paused, trying to give himself time to think.

"James that still doesn't give you the right to ignore me all night," Lily interrupted. However accusatory her statement, it did not sound in her voice. Somehow she knew that this conversation would not end in an argument.

"I know. I just don't know how to treat you in public. I mean, I love the way we're friends now, I do. I loved the letters, and the car journey down here was great… but it's just… I didn't want them all to know about that." He waved his hand towards the house to indicate the party.

Lily flinched.

"It's not that I'm ashamed or embarrassed or anything," James added quickly. "I just wanted to keep it just between us… special. Does that make any sense?"

"Strangely yes." James seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. "But that doesn't mean you can go on ignoring me in public. You'll just have to learn to treat me like any of your other friends. Agreed?"

"Agreed," James whispered. "Would you like to meet Jaffa?"

* * *

After several minutes of feeding the tiny plump pony sugar lumps, which James kept transfiguring for her, Lily was starting to feel the cold severely. 

"Can we head back?" she asked, rubbing her hands together for warmth.

"Lily, I have a problem," James said at the same time. Lily looked at him puzzled.

"What?"

"I can't treat you like one of my friends."

"Yes you can, it'll just take some getting used to," Lily replied, playfully hitting his arm, assuming he was joking.

"I can't be friends with you," James said coldly.

Lily's mind was flooding with terrible thoughts about James not wanting to talk to her because she was a muggleborn when an explosion of noise and cheering erupted from the house. Lily turned to look while James glanced at his wrist.

"Midnight," he whispered, barely audible.

"Happy New Year," Lily said quietly, looking down at her feet. She was still staring at the ground, her heart breaking when James took her by both hands.

"Happy New Year," James said softly.

When Lily glanced up he was barely an inch away from her face.

Then he kissed her.

* * *

"Finally!" I hear you all shout! Read and Review!

* * *

**Alantie Mistaniu:** Sorry there's an awful lot of secrets in this story! Thanks for reviewing! 

**Ron's Only Girl: **Thanks for reviewing!

**Angela Caldwell: **I think you misunderstood that slightly. They didn't have sex, there not even going out! Lily was just being sarcastic.

**Freja:** No I don't think this story is particularly fluffy. It's about to get anything but fluffy. Your English is really good! Thanks for reviewing!

**elements-of-the-soul: **Oh you're very close, but she can't really break up with him seeing they're not going out.

**Augurey Song: **Lol yea 'update soon' does not work with me. Sorry about the delay again. Hope you can still remember the story!

**Leanne**: Wow that cameo was completely adlibbed. Are you impressed?

**mello80: **Glad my story made you laugh so much. That's what it's here for!

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**ellen: **You'll find out.

**orly: **Hope you enjoyed the party. I promise I will finish this story, if only for myself.

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**MJShunpike:** Thanks for reading my story. I love reading yours.


	25. New Year's Day

I've been waiting to write this chapter for so long! I hope you enjoy it.

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Chapter 25 : New Year's Day 

After what seemed like hours, but what had in fact only been a brief moment, James broke away from Lily. He gazed at her not really knowing what to do next. He would like to have said that the kiss was like one of those great romantic moments you saw in Hollywood films, but in reality nothing was ever like that. The kiss had been slightly awkward, the earth certainly hadn't moved, and the only fireworks had been the ones set off by nearby villagers, bringing in the New Year. But at that particular moment in time kissing Lily Evans had been the only thing he could even think about doing, and 1st January 1978 would be a date James would remember for the rest of his life.

Lily giggled at him, and shifted uncomfortably underneath his gaze. He gave a soft laugh in return.

"Stop staring at me," Lily giggled again, turning round and starting to walk back to the coach house. James was left standing a bit confused. She hadn't tried to hit him, she didn't seem too upset that he'd kissed her, and yet here she was trying desperately to get away from him. She was almost halfway back to the coach house when he decided to run after her.

He caught up with her just in time to open the door for her to walk inside. She flashed him a timid smile as he did so, and his mind was immediately set at ease. He decided she must be feeling exactly the same as him – glad the kiss had happened, but without a clue as what to do next.

He followed in the door behind her to find the party was still in full swing. Not many people noticed them walk into together, but he was sure by the end of the night everyone would have heard about it. Lily halted a bit once inside, unsure of where to go, so James placed his hand on her shoulder and guided her through the throng to where he had been sitting with Sirius and Peter all night.

Lily sat down on an old flowery patterned sofa, and James sat down beside her, before saying hello to everyone who was sitting in the group. Sirius looked up and nodded, not saying a word, Peter looked at him without the slightest bit of concern, obviously not having a clue what was going on, Alice and Frank, who had also been sitting with James all night, simply returned his hello and went back to their conversation. The only person who looked even vaguely interested that James and Lily had just entered the room was Caitlin. She looked madly back and forth between the two of them with her mouth and eyes wide. This behaviour didn't stop until Sirius caught her in a passionate embrace, which James was sure he was only using as a ploy to prevent her from speaking.

Lily lent over to James.

"Do you think they know?" she whispered in his ear.

"Probably," he replied. "Although I think they're as unsure as how to react to it as we are."

Lily smiled, and from that moment on things got decidedly more comfortable between them.

* * *

"Everybody! Everybody!" 

It was a few hours later, and most of the guests had gone home. The only people left where James, Lily, Sirius, Caitlin, Peter, Frank and Alice. After numerous butterbeers, and other assorted drinks, Caitlin was now a bit merrier than she ought to have been, and was standing on top of a coffee table, trying to get people's attention.

"Caitlin, shut up and get off my furniture," James shouted across the room at her. He and Lily were washing glasses in a small sink at the back of the room, playfully flicking bubbles at each other, whilst the rest where up righting chairs and tidying up.

"No!" she shouted defiantly. "You all have to come and sit down. I've just remembered something!"

"What?" Sirius asked, as he swept her off the table and placed her unto a chair.

"It's New Year, and we haven't made any resolutions yet!"

James rolled his eyes at Lily and she laughed.

"But Cait, all the guests have gone home," Lily shouted over to her. "There's no point doing that now," she reasoned.

"Who cares!" Caitlin yelled a bit exuberantly. "We're the best ones anyway!"

"What about Remus?" Alice asked.

"What about him?" Caitlin spat back, turning her nose up. James knew that Caitlin, no matter how she denied it, still carried a deep resentment of Remus, ever since the night he had nearly attacked her. She usually kept it under control, but it was times like these – especially when she was drunk – that it usually came out.

Confused by Caitlin's reaction, Alice continued: "Uh, why is he not here?"

"Remus is in Italy," Peter spluttered quickly. James was surprised he had managed to come up with a suitable alibi so speedily.

"Yes, he's visiting his Grandmother," Sirius added.

James glanced at the full moon through the window in front of him.

"He's not very well though," he said quietly. Only Lily heard him.

"I'm sure he'll be better in time for school," she said, placing a comforting hand on James' back. "Maybe we should do what she asks, she'll not stop moaning otherwise," she added.

The two of them walked over and joined the others who were already sitting on the floor in a circle.

"Who wants to go first then?" Frank asked.

"Well I haven't really thought of one," Lily answered. The rest of the group muttered in general agreement.

"Well then let's make up ones for each other!" Caitlin said excitedly.

"I'm not sure I like the sound of that," James said wearily.

"No, it's a great idea!" Caitlin assured him. "James, yours is you must let Leanne and I score at least one goal each in each quidditch match!" she added quickly. She had obviously been thinking about that one for a while.

"Fine," James replied with a forced smile. "But if I'm doing that then you have to be nice to Avril Knight."

"I _am_ nice to Avril," Caitlin replied smoothly. Both Lily and Alice snorted.

"Caitlin, you told me if I invited her to this party you would break my legs," James replied, equally as smooth.

"Well fine then, I will try to be _nicer_ to Avril," Caitlin promised.

"What about Frank?" Peter asked.

"Frank's should be to stand up to his mother more," Alice said pointedly.

"Well, yours should be to wear your hair down more often," Frank replied. Alice immediately pulled her hair down out of its ponytail. James had never noticed it before, but now he thought about it he had never seen it in any other style.

"What should Sirius' be?" Peter asked again.

"Why don't you give him one Peter?" Lily asked.

"Uh… well…" Peter hesitated.

"Hurry up!" Sirius barked.

"Ok, yours should be to be more decisive Wormtail," James offered. "And Padfoot, yours should be to be more patient!" He was trying to get this over with as quickly as possible, he was bored, and already brooding over the fact he was going to have to give some of his glory to Leanne and Caitlin at the quidditch matches. "Now, that only leaves Lily…"

"I've got one for Lily," Sirius said slowly. Lily gave an audible gulp, and James felt like reassuring her. He understood what Sirius was like. He liked to play the 'hard man', pretend he was far too cool for anyone else at the school, but he wasn't really. James knew he was only playing about with Lily at the moment, not trying to scare her, but just tease her. Lily just didn't realise it yet, but James was sure she would soon learn, that the way to make Sirius back off was to challenge him right back.

"…You have to break more rules Lily Evans," Sirius finished with a smirk.

"What-t do you m-mean?" Lily stuttered.

"More school rules," Sirius answered. "At least one a day," he added. Lily stared at him in shock – the idea obviously terrified her.

"Too much Padfoot, way too much," James said firmly.

Sirius cocked an eyebrow and tilted his head. He always looked uncannily like a mischievous dog when he did that.

"One a week," Sirius offered.

"She'll get her badge taken off her," James retorted. "One a month…"

"But a reasonably major one," Sirius suggested.

"Deal," James agreed.

"Uh… shouldn't Lily have a say in this?" Frank asked.

"No, no it's alright," Lily reassured him. "I'll do it," she said more forcefully. James realised she was trying to stand up to Sirius, but he wanted her to know she didn't have to do it to impress him.

"Don't worry about it…" he started, but was cut off.

"Yea, it's not like you'll be the only one breaking a major school rule monthly," Caitlin slurred.

It was around that time that Sirius refused to let Caitlin have anymore to drink.

* * *

"Frank, are you going to be staying here tonight then?" James asked. "Only I just want to know how many sleeping bags I'm going to have to transfigure." He was lining up seat cushions on the ground, getting ready to change them. 

"Well… I don't know… my mother will probably be expecting me home…"

"Longbottom, just what exactly was your resolution?" Sirius asked him.

"Exactly!" Alice concurred.

"Well alright then, we'll stay!"

"That's seven then," James said, and threw another two cushions on the ground. He was just raising his wand when…

"Five," Caitlin interrupted.

James quickly glanced round the room.

"I count seven," he replied.

"So do I," agreed Peter.

"Lily and I aren't staying," Caitlin answered matter-of-factly.

James didn't know who looked more annoyed – Sirius or himself, or even quite possibly Lily.

"Look I'm sorry, but I haven't seen my parents properly since Boxing Day, and I really do think I should go home," Caitlin added, noticing the dismayed looks on their faces. She got up to leave, and went to look for her jacket. James was going to protest, but he decided it was best not to argue with her when she was like this.

"We'll all walk you home then," James offered instead. "You can leave the car here," he added to Lily. " Come and pick it up in the morning?" He hoped she would agree so he could maybe spend some more time with her alone. She nodded, flashing him a quick grin.

They were all just outside the door, wrapped in their jackets and coats, when Lily slapped her hand to her forehead.

"Oh I think I've forgotten something," she exclaimed. "James can you help me look for it?"

Sirius smiled knowingly, and wrapped his arms around Caitlin to shield her from the cold. She grimaced slightly as she had not yet forgiven him for scolding her earlier about her drinking.

"We'll wait for you here then," he said, smirking at James.

The pair of them walked back inside and closed the door.

"What did you forget then?" James asked.

"This," Lily replied. She placed her hands on either side of his face, and brought him in for a slower, much more enjoyable kiss than before. This time Lily ended it. "That was for earlier," she said. "I'm sorry we have to leave but there's no talking to Caitlin when she's like this. I think she's just hacked off at Sirius for telling her off earlier."

"Don't worry," James assured her. "I probably snore in my sleep anyway. I'd just end up ruining your night."

"Trust me, I don't think anything could ruin this night," she replied, bringing him back for another kiss.

* * *

"Do you not think this place looks a bit like Hogsmeade?" 

They had all been walking for quite a while now, and were right in the middle of Godric's Hollow. It was the dead of the night, and there was not a single person, apart from them, around. Sirius had somehow managed to work that 'old Black charm' again, and Caitlin had now cheered up considerably.

"A muggle version I mean," Caitlin continued. She was walking directly along side James and Lily, Sirius with his left arm wrapped around her. Alice and Frank were walking a few steps behind them, holding hands, and Peter was tottering along a few steps after that. James noticed that Lily kept looking back every so often to make sure that he was still there.

"Sort of," Lily replied half-heartedly. James loved the way she always tried to make everyone feel that their opinion was important to her, even over the stupidest of things.

"Well, I think it does," Caitlin replied huffily.

"Of course it does," Sirius added, and started to cover her with light kisses to stop her from throwing a strop again.

James felt a slight pang of jealousy as he looked round and noticed them acting all 'couple-like'. He was just wondering whether he should try to reach out and take Lily's hand when she looked back over her shoulder again.

"Why do you keep doing that?" James whispered to her.

"Just worried about Peter," she said quietly so only James could hear her. "I don't think we should have asked him to walk this far." James looked round at his plump and panting friend. They had now reached the end of the village, which for an average person was a brave walk. For Peter it must have been purgatory.

"He'll be fine," he guaranteed her. He noticed her shiver as he said it. James saw a great opportunity for him to appear the perfect gentleman. "Would you like my coat?" he said, slipping off his denim jacket.

"No thank you," Lily replied. James' heart sank. "I'm just not that cold," she added quickly. James didn't know if Lily was reacting to the hurt in his face or the murderous look Caitlin had just given her.

"Oh it's just I saw you shiver," James pointed out, as if to clarify that there had been a reason he'd offered his coat.

"I know," Lily agreed. "Strange, because it's not even that cold anymore is it?"

Standing with his jacket off, James could see she had a point. Far from the freezing cold night that they had started off in, it was now quite warm, and James found he was quite comfortable without his coat on. He slung it over his shoulder, vaguely taking in the information that the temperature seemed to be rising with every step he took.

"Someone probably just stepped over your grave." The chilling words brought him back from his reverie, and he heard a deathly silence fall among the group as they all halted.

"Caitlin, why the hell would you say that?" Sirius spat in almost disgust. The faces of the rest seemed to echo his feelings. James knew he was feeling the same. Lily looked positively petrified.

Caitlin was standing, staring at Sirius' face wide-eyed, her mouth flapping uselessly.

"T-that's w-what it is," she managed to stutter. "W-when you shiver like that for no reason. Someone's just stepped over your grave." She paused. "Sorry, I didn't mean anything by it."

Silently the group accepted her apology and started walking again. Caitlin hung her head as Sirius removed his arm from around her, and the pair walked along in silence.

* * *

"Does anyone else smell that?" Alice chirped a few minutes later. They were getting near to Caitlin's house now, and had left the village behind. The only thing that surrounded them now were fields and hedges. James was wondering about how he should say goodnight to Lily with everybody watching. 

"Yes," Frank replied hazily. "Smells like…"

"Summer," Peter finished.

"What do you mean it smells like summer, Wormtail? It's the middle of winter for Merlin's sake!" Sirius snapped. He was already agitated by Caitlin's behaviour and James knew Peter making silly comments wouldn't help things. "How can a season have a smell anyway!"

"No he's right," Lily interrupted Sirius' rant. "It's like the smell of water evaporating off the pavement. I know what you mean Peter, it reminds me of summer as well."

"Well, back to point of why it would smell like summer in January then?" Sirius asked bitterly. He knew he had just been put in his place by Lily.

"I don't know," Lily answered curtly.

"It's the frost," Alice said, pointing at the ground. "There's no frost on the ground. Something's melting it." There was a slight note of panic in her voice.

"Ok, I don't mean to alarm anyone," Frank said slowly. "But it is starting to get really hot now."

Caitlin, who throughout the whole conversation had said nothing, and hadn't even turned round to listen to it, suddenly stopped. They had just reached a place where the top two storeys of her home should have been visible from the road.

"My house!" she shrieked. "Where's my house!"

Suddenly something green and vibrant erupted from the trees in front of them. A giant skull, with a serpent protruding from its mouth like a tongue, was floating in the sky, just above where Caitlin's house should have been. Just below that, through the trees, James could make out the flicker of flames glowing.

For a moment nobody moved or made a sound. James found himself fixed to the spot, unable to fully comprehend the sight before him. He felt like he was living in a dream, and a feeling of numbness encased his whole body.

"The Dark Mark," Sirius said softly. He gave a sharp laugh, and then his face went blank.

James had never seen the Dark Mark before, but he knew just what it meant. So did Caitlin.

"MUM! DAD!" she screamed, shaking them all into alertness. With that she started to sprint to what James could only presume were the charred remains of her home.

"Caitlin no!" Sirius barked, but she paid no heed. He turned round to face the others. "RUN!" he roared. The others did as they were told, but James stayed where he was, Lily by his side.

James hoped he looked heroic, like he was going to stand up to the danger or something. The truth, though he hated to admit it, was that he couldn't have run away even if he had wanted to. His legs seemed to have stopped receiving orders from the rest of his body. He wasn't rooted to the ground with fear, but with… confusion. His head was telling him to run, but his heart told him to follow Caitlin.

"James," Sirius said sharply. "You need to get _her_ out of here. NOW!"

"Y-yea," he mumbled. He grabbed Lily by the hand, and felt her trembling. He nodded to Sirius, who began to run after Caitlin, and then he began to run in the opposite direction. He ran faster than he ever had, and Lily could barely keep up.

"James," she panted. "What's going on? Who is it? Why did Sirius say to get _me_ away?"

"It's Death Eaters," James managed to gasp back. "Voldemort's supporters… You're a muggle-born… If they find you… they'll kill you…" James noticed Lily starting to keep up with him a bit better.

They had run completely past the entrance to Godric's Hollow, and were now in a part of the countryside that James had never seen before. The trees where thick here and James was straining hard to hear anything movement in the woods around them, over the sound of his own footsteps.

"James!" Lily screamed suddenly. "Peter! Where's Peter?"

In the distance James could only make out Frank and Alice running ahead of them. Peter was nowhere to be seen.

"OH GOD! Where's Peter?" Lily screamed again. She was beginning to slow down.

"Lily, he'll be fine. Keep running!" James knew that Peter had probably transformed and scurried down the nearest rabbit hole, but he couldn't tell Lily that.

"What if they've got him? We've got to find him James!"

"Lily, I promise he'll be fine!" He gave her a tug on the arm to keep her moving.

"James, why have Frank and Alice stopped running?"

"I don't know. Come on, we better catch up!"

"James! What is that? Is there someone there? Is there someone in front of them?"

"I don't know. I can't make it out."

"James! There's someone there! Oh who is it James? Do you know who it is!"

"I think… it's… it's…"

"JAMES! Is that him? Is that Voldemort! Oh Merlin let it not be him! Please let it not be him!"

"Lily it's not him! It's just a Death Eater!"

"But you don't know! He's coming closer James! Oh God he's almost at them!"

"Lily I promise it's not him! Come here!"

"I don't know what to do… I'm so scared!"

"It's fine… I've got you, its fine… We'll be fine…"

"GET DOWN BOTH OF YOU! _STUPEFY_!"

"Dad?"

* * *

For the rest of his life James would not be able to remember what happened clearly. He could remember running along the road and seeing Frank and Alice come to an abrupt halt in front of him. He could remember a dark, hooded figure appearing, seemingly with a swish of a cloak. He could remember standing next to Lily, who was shaking so violently he thought she was going to be sick. He could remember maybe another dozen figures appearing right beside them. He could remember lying on the ground, across Lily, who was in the foetal position, determined to protect her from whatever was coming next. He could remember screaming, and shouting, and flashes of coloured light… and then nothing. He could remember nothing but his father's face. 

And then he knew he was safe.

The next few days passed in a haze. He couldn't remember Lily going home, but he knew that she had. He couldn't remember Frank and Alice being taken to St Mungo's, but he knew that they had. He couldn't remember being questioned by the Ministry of Magic, but he knew that he had. He couldn't remember being told Caitlin's parents were dead… but he knew that they were.

Out of everything that had happened, there would only ever be one thing James remembered unmistakably – 1st January 1978.

* * *

Bet you weren't expecting me to update so quickly! 

Read and review! Come on I'm going for 300!

* * *

**slippersRfuzzy: **Look! Look at how quickly I updated! Hope you enjoyed it! 

**mello80: **How good am I? Updating so soon! About the cliff-hanger thing, have you not realised yet that my story is just one big cliff-hanger? Lol.

**Ryuu no Taiyo: **Yea I admit the last chapter was a little predictable, but you have to admit you didn't see that one coming!

**lalahatesperkyppl444: **Ok I slightly described the kiss for you, although that's as much as I'm going into it, I'll leave the rest up to imagination. Hope you enjoyed it anyway!

**Augurey Song: **Lol yea I know it took me long enough, but thanks for still reading it anyway. Write something! NOW!

**Alantie Mistaniu: **:O Why do you want to kill James? He's been getting a lot better! Give the poor boy a chance.

**Blinded One: **I know, I'm glad they kissed as well! It might be a while before they have another one though ;)

**astronomylover: **Thanks for reviewing!

**Ruinsul: **Look I updated! Ok that was definitely not the end – as you can probably see. There will be 40 chapters in this story, and then there will probably be a sequel after that, I'm not sure yet. BUT there is definitely still a lot to come, I hope you enjoy it!

**zimzoogle09: **I'm really sorry, but I love cliffhangers, so there will be lots of moments for you mind to wander until I update again! Sorry!

**MJshunpike: **James can't be friends with her because he loves her! I'm just a big romantic you see. I like putting awkward moments in because it's far more realistic, life as a whole is very awkward, nobody really knows what they're doing – especially me!

**Goddess of Muffins: **Yeay! I like making people laugh! Only a few people seem to get my sense of humour. Glad you enjoyed it!

**elements-of-the-soul: **I am very proud about how soon I updated. See you're not dead yet are you? I promise you, you will see the end of this story! Even if it kills _me_!

**DanceDiva: **Well I hope that chapter answered your questions. Caitlin wasn't ignoring Lily at the party, she was distracted by all the other people there and kind of forgot about her, it's the type of person she is, and I can think of a few in real life! Also I forgot to write in my review but I really like the way your chapters are so long in your story!

**pandawitch1616: **Ok you should learn when to go to sleep! 4.38 in the morning! Although I can't say I haven't done it myself. Thanks for sticking with the story anyway! If you want more good stories you should look at my favourites, they're all really good, and quite different!

**LuvonWings: **The story's definitely not over. 25 chapters down, 15 more to go. Keep reading!

**BurningIce22: **I have a cheek to talk about updating more frequently, but I just can't wait to find out what's going to happen next in yours. Thanks for reviewing!


	26. Back to Porridge

Chapter 26 : Back to Porridge

It was a week and a half after term had started at Hogwarts, and Lily was struggling with her trunk up to the Gryffindor Tower. She had just arrived by the Knight Bus, and was taking advantage of the fact it was just past noon, and most people were still in class, to quietly nip to her bedroom unnoticed.

Walking along old and familiar corridors she realised how strange everything now felt. She jumped at every creak and sound she heard, praying that a door wouldn't open, praying that she wouldn't have to face anyone… not yet.

She was just walking across the empty common room, her legs starting to ache under the weight of her luggage, when she heard footsteps coming from the staircase just to the left of her. She froze, panicked by the sound. One thought kept running through her head.

'Please let it not be James, please let it not be James.'

She hadn't seen James since the morning after the attack, and so much had happened since then that it felt like a lifetime ago. Things between them at the party had been so perfect, and now… now she was unsure how she would feel when she finally saw him, and she wasn't ready to find out.

"Hello Lily," came the soft voice of Remus Lupin.

"Hello," Lily replied, relief sweeping over her. She stared at him for a moment, not really knowing what to say. Just how much did he know about what had happened?

"Would you like a hand with that?" he asked, indicating her trunk. She nodded, and they silently ascended to the Head quarters.

"So why are you not in class?" Lily asked, thinking it appropriate to make some small talk.

"Wasn't feeling the best," Remus answered.

"Still not better from New Year?" Remus looked at her confused for a moment. "James said you were ill when you were staying with your Grandmother," she added.

"Oh yes… still recovering… Shall I leave you to it?" They had just reached the top of the stairs and were standing watching the sleeping lion cub.

"No, no come on in. I don't think I could carry that case any further by myself." Lily muttered the password and they walked into the tiny common room.

"It's nice," Remus said, as he cast his eyes around the room.

"Oh, have you not been in here before?" Lily asked.

"No," Remus laughed softly. "I think James likes to keep it as a place to get away from us all. He won't tell anyone the password." He dropped Lily's trunk just beside her bedroom door and sat down on one of the armchairs. Lily sat down opposite him.

"I think that might also be because I'd kill him if I found you all sitting up here," Lily added. They both laughed a little at her joke, but eventually the laughter died away and a heavy silence fell between them.

"How was the funeral?" Remus asked softly.

Lily stared hard at the wall in front of her, she could feel a burning sensation in the back of her throat.

"It was… nice," she managed to say with a small smile. "Just how my mother would have wanted it."

Remus looked at her with deep sympathetic eyes and she could think of nothing but escaping their gaze.

"So what have I missed?" It was a simple question asked in a light-hearted manner. She would do anything to change the conversation, and forgot for a moment that it had a much more serious meaning.

Remus gave a little smile for a moment and then got straight to the point.

"Professor Dumbledore gave us all a talk in the Great Hall, the morning we got back, explained the… uh… situation."

"Oh, I suppose everyone's been pestering Caitlin ever since then?" Lily asked with deep concern, remembering how the girls were annoying her before Christmas.

"Not really, no."

Lily was slightly taken aback.

"I suppose it's better for her to be left alone at the moment in any case." Lily noticed Remus give a slight snort at this but ignored it. "I know that's how I feel anyway," she added solemnly.

"Well, I think I'll take that as my cue to leave then," Remus said, getting up from his seat.

"Oh Remus, sorry that's not what I meant! I…" Lily said hurriedly.

"No, no, I've things to do, and I should leave you to get used to the place again," he said with another smile. He looked like he was about to leave when suddenly he walked over to Lily and placed his hand on her shoulder. "Lily, you know, if you ever need to talk."

Lily looked directly at him and forced a smile, and then turned her head away quickly. She was finding it hard to fight back the tears. She felt his hand gently leave her shoulder and heard the portrait close behind him.

She was alone again.

* * *

Lily had spent the next few hours sitting on her bed, catching up on some work and writing a letter to her sister. She hated not writing at a desk, but her room was the only place in the entire school that James couldn't get into, and so it was there she would have to stay. 

During the week after her mother's funeral, Lily had had to spend a lot of time clearing things out of her house and tidying things up a bit for her father. She had used this time to do a lot of thinking, and had come to realise that for the past seven years, the only cause of any real drama in her life had been James Potter. In fact for the past four months her whole life had revolved around him. But now…

In a very short time Lily had gone through two events that would alter her life forever. The first was to have her simple teenage life cruelly snatched away from her, when she was almost killed by the darkest wizard modern times have ever known. The second was when the love and sense of safety of her childhood was destroyed, when only three days later her mother died. Beside this, her silly love affair with James simply paled into insignificance.

* * *

"Whatcha doin'?" 

Lily looked around her bedroom in complete confusion, and realised it was now dark. She had fallen asleep, and had been woken by muffled voices coming from outside her room. She recognised the first as Caitlin's.

"Sitting in the dark," came James' reply.

"Uh… why?"

'Good question,' Lily thought.

"Thought I better wait here in case Lily needed something. Remus said he left her in here about half twelve, and she hasn't been out of her room since."

Lily had to admit she was touched by his concern.

"Well Sirius is looking for you, he sent me up here to get you. Go on downstairs. I'll go in and see if madam is ready to face her public!" Caitlin said chirpily.

Lily closed her eyes tight and pretended to be asleep. She heard James get up and leave, and heard Caitlin quietly enter her bedroom. Next thing she knew there was a loud thud, and she opened her eyes to find Caitlin's face pressed up against hers.

She gave a slight jolt.

"Good evening," Caitlin said brightly and sat back away from her.

"Ugh… What… time… is it?" Lily gave her best impression of someone who had just woken up.

"About six," Caitlin replied. "Come on now, get up! You've been locked away in this room all day!"

Lily reluctantly got up and started to brush her hair.

"So how have you been?" she asked Caitlin carefully. There was something not quite right about her behaviour.

"Great!" came the surprising answer. "I've moved in with Sirius, did you hear?"

"Uh no. I haven't been in touch with anyone." Lily really didn't know how to act, and thought it best not to try and ask Caitlin about her parents.

"Not even James?" Caitlin asked slyly.

Lily shook her head.

"But at the party…" Caitlin paused and Lily was sure she was going to mention something about the events of that night. "… I thought you were getting on so well?"

"We were," Lily agreed. "I mean we kissed."

Caitlin gave a squeal.

"I just knew it! Oh this is so exciting! I mean, I knew you had of course, I can read you like a book, but no one would tell me for definite, not even Sirius, and James would have told him for sure, but what are you…"

"Caitlin, can we just not do this right now?" Lily interrupted. "I don't really feel like it."

"Fair enough," Caitlin shrugged. "Come on, let's go downstairs then."

Lily felt another wave of fear sweep over her, the same she'd felt when Remus had walked in on her in the common room.

"No Caitlin, I really don't think I can."

"Look, I got Sirius to clear all the boys out to the Quidditch Stadium, so there's only Alice and Scarlet down there. They haven't seen you in almost two weeks Lily," she reasoned, and Lily felt for the first time since she had entered the room that she was showing her some compassion.

* * *

Lily descended her staircase a few moments later, Caitlin's arm interlocked with her own, to find Alice and Scarlet sitting in the armchairs beside the fire. There were only a few others in the common room, mainly much younger students, who gave Lily a fleeting glance and then got back to whatever they were doing. Lily felt quite relieved that she was handling being back in public again so well. 

Alice and Scarlet offered her some casual greetings as she sat down beside them, and following Caitlin's lead, seemed to treat Lily's absence as nothing more than a simple holiday.

Lily sat, barely joining in their conversations, absolutely flabbergasted. It was true that she did prefer to be treated as normal, rather than fussed and cooed over, like the girls had treated her before Christmas, but for the fact that her mother had just died to be completely ignored. Lily was sure there was something not quite right here.

"Lils?" Caitlin's voice brought back to reality.

"Mmm?"

"I said I'll just go and get you those notes you missed. Ok? I'll be back in a minute." And with that she trotted up the girls' staircase.

Lily watched the other two watch warily as Caitlin left.

"Ok." She took a deep breath. "Just what the hell is going on?" Lily didn't swear very often, but when she did it was always with just cause.

"Lils, we're so sorry," Scarlet started. "But it's just been so crazy around here since it happened. I mean nobody's really wanted to talk about it much but… Well you've seen her, it's like nothing's happened at all!"

"But that's not normal, that's…"

"It's more normal than you think," Alice interrupted. "She's in denial. So it's been decided that we should all just play along with it, for the time being."

"And who decided that?" Lily snorted. This was the most ridiculous thing she had ever heard in her life.

"Sirius," Alice replied. Lily rolled her eyes. "Look at it from his point of view Lily, he was there too. He saw the house destroyed, he was there when she found the bodies. I don't think he's ready to deal with this himself yet, so if this is the only way of keeping Caitlin from collapsing, I guess we better play along."

"Well I still think that's very selfish of him. I mean what if the rest of us want to talk about it, come to terms with it ourselves?" Lily asked, exasperated.

"Well we can," Scarlet reasoned.

"Just not with Caitlin in the room," Alice added in an undertone.

"What are you talking about?" Caitlin had arrived back unnoticed, and Lily was not sure just how much of the conversation she had heard. One look at Caitlin's face told Lily what she had to do.

"Talking about how annoyed Avril was about not being invited to James' party," she lied. She knew Caitlin knew they had been talking about nothing of the sort, but nonetheless the resulting conversation made Caitlin very happy indeed.

* * *

At about nine Lily decided to head up to her room again. She told the girls it was because she was still feeling tired from her trip, but in reality it was because she wanted to escape before the boys arrived back to the tower. 

The evening had been a strange experience to say the least. Strange in the way how normal everything had seemed. Lily surprised herself at how easy she found it to forget that any of the past two weeks had happened. It was like stepping back in time to when everything seemed a whole simpler, and Lily was just pondering the idea of making people believe that she was in denial too, when another thought struck her. If she was going to pretend the past two weeks hadn't happen then she was going to have to pretend she had never kissed James, and as yet she hadn't decided whether that was a good thing or a bad thing.

* * *

The next morning Lily woke up early,_ far_ too early. It was probably because she had done nothing but sleep the day before. She decided to take the extra time to have a shower and generally make herself ready to face the world again. 

She took ages meticulously grooming every last strand of her hair until it sat just right, putting her freshly pressed uniform on, buttoning every single last button, and finally pinning her shiny head girl badge to her chest.

She marched down her staircase feeling better than she had done in weeks, finally glad to be back at Hogwarts. The common room was empty this early in the morning, so Lily took the chance to take her favourite seat by one of the windows, took out some work she had to catch up on, and smiled inwardly at herself. She felt ready for anything… at least at that particular moment in time.

After a while the common room started to fill up around her, the younger students first. She watched as a second year boy ran frantically round the room searching for a text book he had obviously left behind the night before. Next came the middle school students, some gently pushing some first years to the side, trying to show some authority even though they didn't really have any at all. Finally the seventh year students arrived down, bleary eyed and barely awake, over the years they had managed to carefully time their wake up time, so they could savour absolutely every moment in bed.

Lily gave a small wave to Scarlet and Alice as they passed her, and was surprised to see Avril give her what appeared to be a genuine smile. She was sure she would have heard about James and her at the party by now, and thought she would have been seething with rage.

"We'll not stop," Alice practically whispered, Lily looked a bit confused.

"Uh, I've got to speak to Stephanie Beattie, you know, that girl from Ravenclaw in our year," Scarlet added hastily.

"Well I'll stay here with Lily then," Avril said, still smiling away. "Wait for Caitlin to come down."

"No," Alice said sharply, giving her a glare. "Stephanie needs to talk to you too." She then grabbed her arm and led her out of the common room.

"Well, I'll wait here for Caitlin then," Lily shouted pointlessly after them, just as Remus, Peter, Frank and Robbie came quite hurriedly down the stairs. They all came straight over to Lily, briefly catching a moment when Caitlin wasn't there to offer their condolences about her mother.

"I suppose you've been filled in by now?" Remus asked.

"Yes," Lily nodded. "Does anything ever go normally in this school?" she joked.

"Yes well," Frank continued, remaining serious. "I just wanted you to know, even if we can't really express it at the moment, we're all very sorry about your mother." The rest muttered a general agreement.

"Thank you Frank," Lily smiled. She felt slightly like she was being address by a member of the royal family. Then Lily watched as Robbie, Frank and Peter left in much the fashion as the girls had – quickly.

"Remus, why can nobody wait to get to breakfast this morning?" She didn't need to wait for an answer.

A lone girlish giggle echoed down the boys' staircase, and Lily could have sworn that for a spilt second the whole common room fell silent. A moment later the students cast ominous glances at each other and tried to get out of the room as soon as possible.

"Sirius stop!" Caitlin squealed, as Sirius and her stumbled into the common room, practically entwined. Lily noticed some of the last remaining students giggle slightly, whilst others gave looks of absolute disgust. Lily made her own mind up to give the pair the benefit of doubt.

"Uh Caitlin how long have you been up there then?" she asked in a completely non-accusatory tone. She was longing the answer to be 'just a few minutes, I went to wake up Sirius,' but the look on Remus' face told her that that was definitely not the case, and the earlier behaviour of the rest of her year told her that this was not the first time this had happened.

"A while," Caitlin answered annoyingly. Sirius had one arm around her waist, and had an indifferent expression on his face. Caitlin kept playing with his hair.

"Did you _sleep_ up there?" Lily asked, dropping her voice to a whisper.

"Yep," Caitlin giggled, and buried her head in Sirius' shoulder, as if this was a private joke between them, and nobody could possibly guess what had been going on.

"You know that's against the rules," Lily stated, her head girl voice creeping in ever so slightly.

"Lils, don't be so… so…" She was so giddy she obviously couldn't think of a word.

"Rule abiding?" Remus offered. Caitlin ignored him.

"Caitlin you could get in real trouble you know… and I don't just mean with the school," Lily continued, she was trying to disguise her lecture with friendly advice. "I might have to report you," she added quietly.

This seemed to bring Caitlin sharply to attention.

"Awh come on Lils, I thought your New Year's resolution was to break more rules," she laughed, but she didn't sound nearly as giddy and carefree as she had before.

"Yea Lily, this can be your one for the week," Sirius jested, but his eyes were pleading Lily to agree. Again convinced she was doing the right thing for Caitlin she decided to concede. She was just about to let her off the hook when she was interrupted.

"Caitlin," James boomed. "Detention!"

Caitlin and Sirius whipped round to find James standing on the staircase that led up to the head quarters. Lily looked at the ground, half embarrassed because James had caught her shirking her duties, and half because she was afraid if she looked him in the eye she'd realise she just didn't feel the same about him.

"But… but…" Caitlin was spluttering, Sirius was fuming.

"No! That's the third time this week Caitlin, it's not on! I warned you, I asked you, I begged you! One, it's against the rules of this school to have a member of the opposite sex sleep in your dormitory, let alone…" He paused. "Two, it's setting a bad example to the younger students when you openly arrived down here in the morning. And three…" He dropped his voice to a more pleasant decibel level, so he sounded more sympathetic. "…your leading the rest of the house to think you're a slut Caitlin, which I know you're not."

Caitlin said nothing in reply, but simply stormed out of the portrait hole. Sirius stalked after her, but not before James stopped him and whispered something inaudible to him on the other side of the room, whilst Lily still sat with Remus.

"I go to Italy. I come back. I find that you've all been attacked by Voldemort. Caitlin's parents are murdered. Her house has burnt down. Frank and Alice have been in St Mungo's for two days. Your mother is dead. Sirius is trying to persuade people not to mention any of this, Peter barely talks to anyone any more, Avril smiles now, Caitlin has turned into a slut, you're letting people break the school rules, and James has turned into a model Head Boy. Did I miss anything out?" Remus mused.

"Well, I guess you could say now it's back to porridge," Lily replied, getting up.

"Indeed," Remus said, joining her. They were both about to leave when James caught Lily's arm.

"Can I speak to you?" His voice was much softer than before, and almost apologetic. Remus gave a small wave and carried on without her.

This was the moment Lily had been dreading. She was alone with James. She continued to stare at the floor.

"Lily?" She forced herself to bring her head up slowly and look him in the eyes… and she found it wasn't that difficult. "Are you ok?" he continued.

"Mostly," Lily replied, answering the question for the first time truthfully.

"That's good. Well, Dumbledore told me to ask you to go and see him sometime today, you know any time you're free," he said slightly awkwardly.

"Well, I suppose I could go now then." Lily looked at him and suddenly realised that James had been looking forward to this meeting about as much as she had. They both had no idea what to expect from the other.

"I'll walk you there," James said, slightly too firmly. It was almost like he was trying to tell himself this rather than Lily.

* * *

After a few minutes of walking along the corridors, with some general chit-chat, Lily felt much more at ease with James again. She laughed inwardly at herself, realising that she had been foolish to spend all that time avoiding him. She wasn't quite sure if she still felt as strongly about him, but she knew now that she could still have him as a friend. He was still the same old James after all, still the same old sweet, dependable James… with sexy eyes, gorgeous hair and a voice that sent shivers down her spine – yes, she still fancied James. 

Her moment of brief reawakening was rudely interrupted however, by the most of the Great Hall finishing their breakfast and heading on to their first class. Caitlin walked past them in the corridor, giving Lily a huge smile, and ignoring James' very existence.

"Suppose I deserved that," he accepted.

"Well, you did put her in detention," Lily agreed. "Maybe you shouldn't have been so harsh?"

"It's been going on all week," James said pointedly. "It wouldn't be too much longer before someone told McGonagall, and then _we'd_ be the ones getting it. Besides, I couldn't keep on giving Sirius detentions for it and letting her get off Scot free."

"You've been giving Sirius detentions!" Lily exclaimed.

"Yea," James laughed. "Well, he's not the one we're meant to be tiptoeing round, is he?"

"Oh yea," said Lily sarcastically. "I forgot about Sirius and his 'let's pretend none of this ever happened' plan'. I don't deny I can see why it's appealing, but honestly James, we can't just go on the way it is now."

"We're not going to though," James replied, as though this was blatantly obvious. "Sirius just thought it would be good to keep like this for a few weeks to stabilise her a bit, and we're going start getting her used to it gradually. You know, start mentioning small parts of it to her. I know you might not thing it's the best solution, but it's the way Sirius wants it done so the rest of us are just agreeing. He's bearing the brunt of this you know."

"I know," Lily said quietly. "Alice said."

"He doesn't really know how to deal with her at the moment, and he's the only person she's got left. The only thing he wants for her now is for her to feel safe and comfortable. You see he's not such a bad guy after all."

Just as Lily was starting to feel really guilty about badmouthing Sirius and his plan another thought flashed across her mind.

"If he's not such a bad guy, then why is he getting her into his bed every night?" she said acidly.

"I think you'll find that it's Caitlin following him into his bed, rather than him 'getting her in'. I mean, Merlin, it's not like he's tricking her in," James spat back, defending his best friend to the hilt. "But I'm not looking down on her," he added quickly, again reinforcing he didn't think Caitlin was a slut. "I mean it's a natural thing. When you experience death so close at hand, the first thing you want to do is prove your alive. And what better way than…" He gave a small cough, and Lily didn't need him to fill in the blanks.

"So you think its ok then, for him to just sleep with her anyway? Even though she's not in the right frame of mind and probably doesn't know what she wants at the moment. You don't think that's taking advantage slightly?" If he was going to defend his best friend's honour, he could expect Lily to do nothing less for hers.

"No, but come on Lily, he's only human! And male for that matter! It would be very hard to say no if you were getting it offered on a plate every night. You'd be hard pushed to find a guy that could, even if the girl's parents had just died." James only seemed to realise how insensitive his words were, in the present company, after he had said them. He just stood there looking at Lily, his eyes wide with horror at his own stupidity, and his mouth slightly open.

"Would that include you too James?"

Lily walked on down the corridor to Dumbledore's office by herself, leaving James to stare helplessly after her.

* * *

That wasn't great but I needed to build up a bit of background before I get to the next chapters. Please review!

* * *

**Red-head Hufflepuff attack: **Sorry about the novicane. Thanks for reviewing! 

**Alantie Mistaniu: **Glad you don't want to kill James now, we'll leave that to Voldemort. Things are going to get darker, but not too much.

**mello80: **Spoke too soon, they're not together yet, but don't worry they will be. Eventually!

**Ruinsul: **Sorry I took a while to update but I'm really glad I gave you chills. That's what I was going for.

**Angela Caldwell: **Glad you liked it so much. What does the highly recommended box actually do anyway? Cause I've never seen a story that was 'highly recommended'.

**FaNFicMainIAC88: **Glad you liked the last chapter so much. Hope that one wasn't a disappointment.

**Blinded One: **Bet you didn't think Caitlin was going to react like that to her parents death!

**LuvonWings: **Oh this story is faaaaaaar from over. And if you don't like Avril… well let's just say there's a reason she's smiling so much now.

**Xx Willick xX: **Being compared to JK Rowling, now there's a compliment. Thank you so much!

**BurningIce22: **I know how you feel, I'm coming up to exams now so I don't know when I'm going to be able to write this!

**elements-of-the-soul: **Awh I was looking forward to a prediction, but I don't think you'd have got it right though. I'm sorry I didn't keep up the record breaking updates!

**pandawitch1616: **Caitlin is a pureblood, her parents were targeted for another reason which you'll find out later. For my favourites click on my name on this page and they'll be in my profile.

**DanRadLuver01:** Ok first of all thanks for your review, I'm glad your enjoying it. Anyway as to Lily being clueless. Lily doesn't know much about Voldemort or his goings on because she's never really had to. She has picked up various things from Caitlin and from people in school, but they don't really know as much as Harry et al would because it's not happening directly _to them_. Until now that is. But please keep reading, as she is about to get clued up pretty quickly. As for your other question… no comment.

**CompleteGeek: **No they're not together, they're in an awkward stage because of what has happened. You know you're the only person who noticed that that was number one! I do plan to write about the other times but not in this story, they'll be in the sequel… if I ever get that far!

**sour-peach: **You'll probably not find out where Peter was, but he is definitely not a Death Eater yet. Thanks for reviewing!

**I love truegryffindorgrit: **Shmeh nothing to say… how are you?

**MJshunpike: **I know! I have 330! Whoo! My goal is to make it to 500, although not before I update next!

**Desi-Siriuslovesyou: **I like excited reviews, keep them coming! I couldn't kill Caitlin either, so don't worry she will definitely make it to the end of this story.

**ebony-plays-the-viola: **I'm sorry but Caitlin's parents had to die, and all the chapter's are going to be in Lily and James POV. I've only 14 chapters left now! But there should be a sequel… hopefully. Also the whole thing about your dog… that was a bit weird. Kjajbdsv.zsv;oiwee;

**Elwing Mithrandr: **Thanks for reviewing!

**ruberduckysrfun: **I was wondering where you were! I hope to update a few times in the next three months, but don't hold me to it!


	27. Sound Advice

Chapter 27 : Sound Advice

James leant up against the corridor wall, and slid down it. Sometimes words couldn't describe what a moron he was. He had basically just told the girl who he had been after for seven years, the girl who he was so close to making his own, that really it was ok to take advantage of someone whose parents had just died, because really it would be very hard to say no.

Physically slapping himself, he proceeded to his first class of the day, Care of Magical Creatures.

* * *

Wandering into the class some fifteen minutes late, James made up some excuse and slumped into the seat between Sirius and Remus, a huge scowl on his face. 

"Mr Potter," Professor Hogg barked. "I realise that theory classes may not be the most exciting, but be that as it may, you will show some respect when you are in my class!"

"Sorry Professor," James sighed, not taking the slightest bit of notice.

"SIT UP!" she screamed. "You've already missed a quarter of this class, I will not have you disrupting the rest of it!"

James opened his mouth to point out that he had barely said a word since entering the room, but found he didn't quite have the energy to fight with her today. Professor Hogg was one of a few teachers who didn't believe he should be Head Boy.

She started back into some rant about some sort of magical creature, as James quickly tuned out. He had lost his patience for this subject, which he suspected had something to do with the teacher. Besides, being able to turn into a stag on demand had given him an understanding of animals that no lesson could ever teach him.

"Prongs I know you're unhappy about giving me another detention, but there's really no need to beat yourself up about it, or jump off a bridge or anything. I mean don't feel you have to cause yourself any kind of physical _pain_ on my account," Sirius whispered out of the corner of his mouth.

"Shut up!" James snapped back, folding his arms and resting his head on them on the desk.

"Oooooo," Sirius jested back, poking him in the leg with his quill. "What's wrong with you then?"

James glared at him.

"Things didn't go well with Lily then?" Remus asked.

James glared at him too.

"Not too well, no," he answered sarcastically.

"Couldn't have been that bad," Remus offered.

"Couldn't have been much worse," James answered. "Well no that's not true, I mean I could have _shoved_ my finger in her eye… although… that might have been better than what I actually did… so yea, it couldn't have been worse."

"Prongs, what did you _do_?" Sirius asked, in mock concern.

"Nothing," James huffed back. "I don't want to talk about it. Especially not with you!"

"What! What did I do!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Ssssssssh!" Remus hissed. "Keep your voice down, you don't want to land us all in detention!"

"_Some_ of us are already in detention Moony," Sirius replied bitterly, but all the same quietly. "Because this _woman_ here decided if he wasn't getting any, none of the rest of should!"

"Yea well, if you had kept your trousers on, then I wouldn't have just fucked things up with Lily!" James spat.

"What! The whereabouts of my trousers have nothing to do with Lily!" Sirius was starting to get really irritated now, just like he did anytime anyone brought up the subject of Caitlin, or their sleeping arrangements.

James said nothing, not wanting a brawl with Sirius to add to his already bad mood. He took a more sensible route, and put his head back down on the table.

"Prongs, whatever happened with Lily, you know the pair of you will work it out," Remus said quietly, before returning to his work.

"Yea, I mean, that's what you two _do_ isn't it?" Sirius added before doing the same.

* * *

At the end of the class, which James was sure had gone on for days, his mood was still as dark as ever. He vaguely made out the sounds of his friends getting out of their chairs beside him, and found himself doing the same. He was just about to stalk out of the classroom when he found a figure in the doorway blocking him. 

"Detention Potter," Professor Hogg sneered. "For talking in class."

"But Miss I barely spoke!" James protested.

"What was I teaching about today Potter?"

James couldn't answer, he honestly had no idea.

"Detention Potter," Hogg smirked, and stepped aside to let him out. He found Sirius and Remus waiting for him outside. They had seen everything.

"Unlucky mate," Sirius said, trying to console him. "If she had caught us she would have put us in detention too."

"That's a lie and you know it," James snapped back. "She just hates me, and she hates the fact I'm Head Boy even more!"

"So? Let her hate you," Sirius replied. "Dumbledore made you Head Boy and there's no way some stuck up spinster like Hogg has better judgement than Dumbledore."

"Yea, but everybody knows I'm second choice," James mumbled. "We all know you'd have been far better at it Moony," he said, turning to Remus.

"Oh yea, I'd have been so much better," Remus laughed. "'Excuse me kids I've just got to go and turn into a blood thirsty monster for a while – don't break any rules while I'm away.' Could you imagine it?"

"Maybe that would have been a good thing," Sirius argued. "You would have got a lot more respect if they thought you would actually rip them limb from limb if they misbehaved!"

Sirius and Remus laughed at the joke, but James remained silent and sullen.

"Oh cheer up would you?" Sirius pleaded.

"I can't," James said flatly. "I'm having a terrible day, and knowing me it's going to get worse before it gets better."

Thinking it might be better if he had some time on his own, he stormed off down the corridor leaving Sirius and Remus behind him.

* * *

The rest of James day didn't quite turn out as he predicted, but although it didn't get any worse, it didn't get any better either. He spent most of it ignoring whatever was going on around him, including his friends and his lessons, and feeling sorry for himself. 

In one day he had managed to completely ostracize himself from Lily, probably for good, and been made to feel guilty about being Head Boy. All he needed now was for someone to come tell him that they thought Caitlin would make a far better Quidditch captain and he was being thrown off the team.

"Can I have your attention please?"

It was now dinnertime and James was in the Great Hall with the rest of the school. He was vaguely aware of his friends sitting round him at the Gryffindor table, but was far more acutely sensitive to a certain red head sitting on down the table – ignoring him.

Dumbledore had just risen from the staff table and addressed the hall. It had taken James a moment to realise where the voice had come from, before Peter had nudged him and pointed up the hall.

"I apologise for interrupting your dinner – I hope you're all enjoying it." There was a gentle murmur of consent. "Anyway it has been brought to my attention, by certain members of the seventh year…" James was sure he saw Dumbledore cast a glance at the Gryffindor girls sitting in front of him. "…that many of you were very disappointed at the last minute cancelling of the Yule Ball."

Most of the girls in the hall cast each other eager looks, whilst the boys just seemed to glare at Dumbledore, some of them quite threateningly.

"So after much deliberation and _persuasion_…" His eyes came to rest on someone at the Gryffindor table. "…it has been decided there will be another ball…" Many excited squeals were heard. "… on St Valentine's Day." Followed by an even louder – predominantly male – groan.

James saw Avril Knight turn round and grinned widely at him; she would of course have to be seated right beside Lily, who still had her back to him.

A stunning realisation swept over him – James Potter had just discovered hell on earth.

"I knew that promise would come around to bite you in the arse," Remus reminded him annoyingly, whilst he and Peter started laughing.

"No guys, I actually don't think he can breathe," Sirius cut in, deadly serious. "Prongs?"

James didn't reply, he couldn't.

"Moony grab under his other arm, Wormtail you get his feet," Sirius barked.

James suddenly found himself being hoisted up out of his seat and out of the hall. He knew everybody would be staring at this ridiculous display, everyone except Lily of course, but at this moment in time he had lost the ability to care.

"Where are we taking him?" Peter panted as they entered the Entrance Hall.

"The lake," Sirius barked back. "Throwing him in it might bring him round."

James immediately wriggled free of their grasp and stood up.

"Ok! Ok! I'm up! I'm up!"

"Knew that would work," Sirius said slyly. "Now are you going to tell us what the hell is going on?"

James sat down in the middle of the floor.

"Maybe you should just throw me in the lake," he said, placing his head in his hands.

"_Prongs_," Sirius said threateningly.

"Ok! Well Lily started having a go about the way you were handling the situation with Caitlin."

Sirius gave an irritated puff of air.

"So I _stood up for you_," James continued pointedly. "But whilst I was standing up for you, I inadvertently told her that it was ok to take advantage of people whose parents had just died."

Remus and Peter's mouth fell wide open, whilst Sirius just stood there defiantly.

"So? Things between Caitlin and me have nothing to do with her, and I am NOT taking advantage of…"

"Padfoot, you're not listening. First of all the way Caitlin gets treated has everything to do with her as she's her best friend and second of all, I was thinking she probably took my statement to be about her and me, rather than Caitlin and you."

Sirius seemed to relax a bit.

"Look, it's just another of your silly fights isn't it? You obviously didn't mean to say that. So just go apologise to her and invite her to that stupid ball!"

James didn't even get to think about that suggestion before Remus interrupted.

"I don't think that's such a good idea do you?"

"Why not?" Sirius asked.

"Because a better way to show that you didn't actually believe in what you were saying is to proof it. Don't try and ask her out when she's still grieving over her mother!" Remus reasoned.

"There is that," Sirius conceded.

"And also you already promised you'd take Avril to the ball," Peter added. "You might want to sort that out before you ask someone else."

James fell back onto the floor again with a groan.

* * *

Later that night James was lying on his bed reading. It was something he always did out of sight, so it didn't ruin his 'I don't need to revise, I'm just naturally that smart' image. It was also a good excuse to stay of the way of Avril, who he hadn't thought of how he was going to get out of going to the ball with. 

Suddenly his bedroom door was thrust open and a very agitated Lily walked in. James barely had time to look up from his book before she had started on him.

"Well come on then!" she all but bellowed. James gave her a confused look. "Let's get this over with!"

"Get what over with?" For one terrifying moment James thought she might be talking about his life.

"Your apology," Lily demanded. "I've too much else to deal with at the moment to have to worry about the atmosphere between us as well. So go on!"

"Uh… I'm sorry?" James stuttered.

"For what?" Lily barked.

"For saying it was alright to take advantage of people who… Well you know what I said. I didn't mean it," he assured her.

"Well I obviously I knew that," she replied sharply, sitting down on the end of James' bed. "I just stormed off this morning because it really annoyed me at the time, and I couldn't think straight." James shifted a bit in his seat as he bit back the temptation to ask why else would she have stormed off.

'I mean, you're hardly going to storm off because it made you really happy, are you?' he thought bitterly.

"But I've calmed down enough now, so I can accept your apology," Lily continued.

"Yes, because you're obviously a picture of serenity at the moment, aren't you?"

It was a moment before James realised he'd actually said the words out loud. Lily looked at him shocked for an instant, and then burst out laughing. James breathed a sigh of relief.

"So why did you come up here then? Cause its obvious the last thing you would want to do is talk to me?" James asked, assured that Lily had now calmed down again.

"I was forced to," Lily admitted. "A _certain_ friend of mine told me that I had overreacted to the whole thing and should go and speak to you to clear the air. After hearing this constantly throughout the whole day, I eventually gave in. So here I am." Lily flapped her arms about to indicate herself.

"Right, so… Hang on… which _certain_ friend? Did you tell Caitlin about what I…"

"Yes James, because I am _that_ insensitive," Lily replied coolly. "It was Alice, ok?"

"Right I'm sorry. It would just be the perfect end to the perfect day for Caitlin to find out about what I said," James said glumly.

"Come on then," Lily said, sliding back on the bed so she was now lying beside James. "Tell me all about it."

"Well first of all I had that fight with you, then I had a row with Professor Hogg about me being Head Boy, then there's that bloody ball…"

"Oh, Avril's ball you mean?" Lily interrupted, suddenly a bit stiffer.

"What do you mean Avril's ball?" James asked intrigued.

"Just that," Lily stated. "It's her ball. She's the one that put Dumbledore up to it. Said it wouldn't be fair if we didn't have a ball in our last year, but I'd love to find her real reason for doing it," she finished, a look of plotting in her eye.

"I think I can help you with that," James answered. Lily looked at him intrigued. "Uh… after the Yule Ball was cancelled, I kind of promised her I'd take her to the next ball there was at Hogwarts… _if _there was a ball… which there is now."

James squinted up his eyes, preparing himself for the onslaught of Lily telling how terrible it was for him to make a promise he had no intention of keeping. However, he opened his eyes when he heard Lily give a squeal of mirth.

"Oh I'm glad you find it so funny, me having to take her to the ball!" James protested.

"No, no, it's not that," Lily managed to splutter through her laughing. "It's just that, well… after you left…"

"By 'left' do you mean 'dragged out of the hall by your mates'?" James asked sarcastically, mentally added another event that had made up his terrible day.

Lily hit him on the arm as she collapsed into another fit of giggles.

"After you left…" she tried to continue. "Dumbledore… Well for some strange reason Dumbledore decided that there would be no partners. He said that it would cause too much upheaval in the school for us all to be dashing about eyeing each other up."

"I would have paid to have seen the look on Avril's face," James declared.

"Oh it was priceless," Lily admitted. "And now it makes sense. Poor Avril, although it serves her right," she added, folding her arms.

"That's not like you," James chastised her.

"Yes well she only did it because Scarlet told her about what happened between you and me at New Years."

Lily held his gaze for a moment and then looked purposely in the opposite direction, just as James did the same. He suddenly became very aware that Lily Evans was lying beside him, on his bed. With a great effort, James turned himself back to face her and completed a statement he thought he would never find himself saying.

"Lily, about New Years," he started. "Well about us really. I think… Well… I don't really know how you're feeling at the moment, you know after the attack and your mother, and I'm not even sure you know how you're feeling… so… I think I should give you space until you get everything sorted out." He took a deep breath. "Lily, I think we should just be friends at the moment," he finished, looking at the wall straight ahead of him.

"James." He looked round. "I think that's the most sensible thing I've ever heard you say."

She kissed him on the cheek and left.

James made a mental note to give Remus a hug the next time he saw him.

* * *

Ugh I hate it but there's no point in trying to change it. I'm building up to something better. Sorry for late update but I have exams. Please review! Tell me its crap!

* * *

**Ruinsul: **Sorry you had to wait so long for that chapter. Let's just say Sirius' plan will eventually come good. 

**Alantie Mistaniu: **Still alive! Hope you enjoyed that chapter!

**MJshunpike: **Hope James redeemed himself in that chapter. Sorry about the whole Sirius and Caitlin thing, but it will get sorted I promise. Just keep reading!

**BurningIce22: **Another semi cliffy. Thanks for reviewing.

**Desi-Siriuslovesyou: **You've probably been waiting a long time for this. Sorry about that but exams come first. Hope you laughed a few times at that chapter. The next one should be must sooner. I hope!

**CompleteGeek: **Thank you very much. It is a shame so many people have to die, but it makes for a better story. You'll see more of Caitlin in the next chapter.

**Augurey Song: **At least he got himself out of it! Thanks for reviewing!

**man eating plant: **Thank you. At least they've made up again! The nickname thing took me quite a while to come up with.

**ebony-plays-the-viola:** Goodness your reviews are long. Yes your right there will be a Caitlin meltdown, although it will lead to something that hopefully no one will have seen coming. I liked Remus in the last chapter as well, I think I just have to work on Peter a bit more and then I've basically got all the characters the way I want them. Keep the long reviews coming!

**ruberduckysrfun: **Awh I love you too. Although you are just some random from the internet. I deleted stranger at the door so I could concentrate on this one. I will probably finish it one day, but not until I finish this one. As for the book thing – no I don't think that will ever happen.

**Serb-Maco: **Thanks for reviewing!

**ilovehp5: **Don't worry about reviewing every chapter I'm just happy you left one. James always messes up because he's a typical teenage boy. Yea I liked Letters too. Thanks for reviewing.


	28. Just Maybe Baby

Chapter 28 : Just Maybe Baby

"Lily!"

Lily looked up from her book to find Scarlet jumping up and down in front of her, whining.

"Scarlet," she replied, calmly setting her book on her lap.

"Will you do me a favour?" she asked, in a sickly sweet voice.

"Maybe," Lily replied carefully. "What's the favour?"

"Will you come into Hogsmeade with me this weekend? To shop for dress robes for the ball? Caitlin mentioned you were looking for new ones," Scarlet explained.

"No, I said to Caitlin, that I might, _might _get new ones, depending on how much money I had." Scarlet gave her a puppy dog look. "But alright, I'll come and have a look with you, see if anything catches my eye."

"Awh thank you Lils!" Scarlet squealed, giving her a hug before she ran up the girl's staircase. Lily gazed suspiciously after her.

"Now why do I think there's more to that than she's letting on?" she asked shrewdly, just as Alice and Caitlin joined her sitting beside the window in the common room. They both looked at her pitifully.

"That's maybe because there is," Caitlin said simply.

"She doesn't want you to look at dress robes, she wants you to help pick out a Valentine's present for Robbie," Alice explained.

Lily let out a throaty growl that startled a first year girl sitting near them.

"Can't you go with her instead?" she pleaded with them. They both shook their heads. "But don't you need to get presents yourself?"

"Got mine ages ago," Alice shrugged.

"And I'm not buying one," Caitlin said matter-of-factly. Lily waited to hear about the latest argument between Sirius and her. It must have shown in her face. "Oh, we're not fighting again," Caitlin assured her. "I just don't see the point, and besides, I'd rather spend money on myself for the ball."

"Alright then," Lily sighed. "I guess I'll have to go with her."

Lily admitted defeat, realising that having to go and shop for Valentine's presents would be bad enough, but doing it with indecisive, incomparably bad-tasted, and downright girly, Scarlet would make it ten times worse.

"So what about your dress robes for the ball then?" She tried desperately for one last chance of getting out of going with Scarlet. "Do you not still need to get them?"

"No, I'm just wearing the ones I bought for the Yule ball," Caitlin smirked at her, knowing exactly what she was at.

"And my mum's making me mine," Alice explained.

"You're the only one that needs to get new ones Lily," Caitlin added.

"No, I don't," Lily protested. "I have perfectly fine dress robes!"

"Lily," Caitlin looked at her sternly. "The last time you wore those robes was in 5th year. You need new ones!"

"Fine," Lily huffed. "_Fine_, I'll go with her, even though I don't even have a boyfriend to shop for Valentine presents for!"

It had been about a month since Lily and James had had their conversation in his room, about just being friends, and about three weeks since Lily had decided that she had had enough time to sort herself out and would like nothing better than to be more than James' friend. Realising this had been quite easy, conveying it to James, however, was another thing entirely, and Lily had so far resisted Caitlin's advice, which was to make the first move herself.

"Could be worse," Caitlin reassured her. "You could be doing that instead."

James and Peter had just entered the room, closely tailed by Avril.

"Jay, there's just something else I need you to look at for the ball," she was shouting very loudly over the common room, as James did his best to shake her off.

"No one calls him Jay," Lily scoffed.

"Wonder why?" Alice mused.

"Uh… because it sounds crap?" Caitlin suggested. "He's the least "Jay" type person I've ever met in my life. Way to go Avril, give him a crap nickname. _That'll_ make him go out with you!"

Alice and Lily looked at each other, slightly concerned about Caitlin's little rant. Over the past month Caitlin's behaviour had got much better, and she was almost back to normal, but she had yet to actually admit her parents were dead, and everyone was waiting for a blow-out at any second.

"I just hate her so much," Caitlin added, seeing the looks on their faces. "Hello Avril."

Avril had just walked across the room to join them, after James had sprinted up the boys' staircase to get away from her.

"Hello," she said rather formally, setting a roll of parchment on her lap as she sat down with them. "Just things I have to organise for the ball," she explained, although nobody had really asked.

"What were you asking James?" Alice asked, ever the polite one, pretending she was interested.

"Just something about the decorations," she replied haughtily.

"Why?" Caitlin asked mimicking her.

"Because it's a ball Caitlin, and decorations make it look better," Avril drawled.

"I know," Caitlin replied, desperately trying to keep her cool. "I meant why are you asking James?"

"Because he's the head boy, and I thought he'd like to be involved," Avril replied.

"Well Lily's head girl and you haven't asked her," Caitlin pointed out. "And Lily would probably care more about the decorations than James would. She wouldn't care a lot, obviously, but she would still care more than James would."

"Caitlin, I don't see the point in talking to you when you're like this," Avril said patronisingly, as she got up again. "Maybe I'll try again when you're in the right frame of mind – although Merlin knows when that will be," she added in an undertone.

"And what's that meant to mean?" Caitlin screamed as she jumped out of her seat.

"Caitlin, ignore her," Lily warned.

"Yes, Caitlin ignore me, just like you ignore everything else," Avril added wickedly, just as she walked off to her dorm.

"How did you even get into this house anyway Avril?" Caitlin roared after her, Lily trying to push her back into her seat. "Did you bribe the sorting hat?"

"_Caitlin_," Lily scolded.

"What? Everyone knows she should be in Slytherin!" Caitlin said loudly.

"Just leave it!" Lily hushed her.

She fell back into her own seat and leant back, closing her eyes to try and get some peace. When she opened them again she noticed James walking carefully across the room, desperate not to be caught by Avril. He took a few steps past Lily and then turned back round, pointing at her.

"There was something I meant to ask you," he said thoughtfully.

'Please Merlin, let it be to go out with you," Lily found herself fantasying.

"Oh it doesn't matter; I can't remember what it was now. Couldn't have been that important," he said cheerily. "I'll see you around."

Lily hit the arms of her chair in frustration as he left.

"Hang in there kid," Caitlin whispered. "It'll all come good in the end."

* * *

"Lils, what do you think of these?" 

Lily was busy looking through the bargain rail of a robe shop in Hogsmeade. Scarlet was calling to her from near the window.

"Yea, it's great, get that one," Lily called back, half-heartedly.

"Which one?" Scarlet called back.

"Uh, the red one," Lily hazarded a guess.

"_Lils_, you're not even looking," she called angrily. "They're both _pink_!"

"Alright, I'm coming now," Lily yelled frustrated. She hastily grabbed a robe from the rack and walked over to the Scarlet. "Oh that one definitely," she said, pointing to the slightly less fluorescent of the two, and then turning away quickly before the colour blinded her.

"Ok," Scarlet said chirpily. "What one are you getting?" she asked, as she bundled up her choice and got ready to go and pay for it.

"This," Lily answered, holding up her choice, which she hadn't really looked at until now. It was a pale blue robe, which next to Scarlet's extravaganza of pink looked very plain. For one night though, Lily decided it would do, and more importantly it was only 10 galleons, whereas Scarlet's was nearer to 70 and at the moment money for tight for Lily.

"Are you sure?" Scarlet asked timidly. She seemed to have noticed the robe's slightly dull nature. "I mean are you not going to try it on first?"

"No," Lily said sharply, a bit hurt by Scarlet's insensitivity to her cash flow situation. "This one will do."

The girls went to the counter and paid for the robes, where the sales woman kept them for about half an hour talking about the excitement that was always caused by balls at Hogwarts, and how she remembered her last ball there.

When they finally got outside, the cold February wind hitting Lily's face made her immediately think of a warm seat by the fireplace in the Gryffindor tower.

"So are we done?" she asked Scarlet hopefully, knowing exactly what the answer would be.

"Well there's just one more shop I need to visit… you don't mind do you?"

"No, not at all," Lily lied as she and Scarlet turned into a small gift shop. She was at once overwhelmed by a waft of sickly perfume coming from the scented candles.

"Scarlet I think I'm going to sit down for a while," she said, spying a small armchair near the counter. The smell had given her a severe headache and she felt very dizzy.

"Oh but I thought you could help pick out a gift for Robbie?" Scarlet said pleadingly.

"I really don't feel well," Lily insisted as she sat down.

"Oh ok," Scarlet said dejectedly. "I'll come back and get you in a minute then?"

Lily nodded slightly, as she leant her head back into the chair and closed her eyes. She tried desperately to convince herself she didn't have a headache – mind over matter and all that – but it didn't work. There was now something buzzing near her head that was making the pain worse. Opening her eyes, she looked about, ready to furiously crush whatever was annoying her so much, but when she saw what it was she found herself transfixed.

Just across the shop from her, sitting on a shelf, was a small wooden ornament of a quidditch player, sitting on a wooden plinth. Every so often the player would stand up, sit on the broom he had in his left hand, and chase a tiny wooden snitch about, never getting too far from his plinth.

Sitting watching this display over and over again, Lily suddenly heard Caitlin's voice in her ear.

'It'll all come good in the end.'

'Not unless I take it into my own hands it won't!' Lily thought determinedly.

Jumping up quickly she grabbed the quidditch player off the shelf and walked purposely over to the counter.

"How much?" she asked the plump shopkeeper.

"2 galleons and 15 sickles," she answered sweetly.

"I'll take it," Lily answered, looking through her bag for her purse.

"Would you like it wrapped?" the shopkeeper asked cheerily.

"Yes and could I get a gift tag as well?"

The shopkeeper gave one flick of her wand and the ornament appeared fully wrapped in red paper, with a matching gift tag.

"Is that everything?"

"Yes, thank you." Lily handed over the money, which the shopkeeper received with another cheery smile.

Lily turned round to find Scarlet standing directly behind her in the queue.

"What's that?" she asked, pointing towards the package in Lily's hand.

"Nothing, just something for my dad," Lily said quickly, hastily shoving it into her bag.

"Ok," Scarlet replied, giving her a wary look.

"Did you get something for Robbie?" Lily asked, desperate to get Scarlet to concentrate on something else.

"Yea, this." Scarlet held up something that Lily couldn't really describe other that it was very furry and very pink.

"He'll love it," she giggled. "Can we go back now?"

"Yea just let me pay for this."

* * *

The week leading up to the ball was pure mayhem at Hogwarts. Valentine's was usually bad enough, what with the black market trade of illegal love potions, spells and talismans, but with the added excitement of the ball, Lily, James and the prefects had a lot to deal with. 

Lily felt she couldn't go five minutes without having to separate two pupils fighting over who was going to be who's valentine, and she had given up trying to pinpoint who was selling what to whom. The only thing that kept her going was the small package safely nestled under her bed, and the thought of what she was going to do with it come Saturday.

Every time she saw James she couldn't help but give him a small knowing smile, which she was sure he was picking up on, but the only time they really saw each other was running through the corridors between classes, trying to calm the students down, so she hadn't been able to talk to him about it.

Lily was finally able to sit down in the common room that Friday night at about half ten.

"Sorry and you are?" Alice asked, seemingly bewildered, as Lily sat down in the armchair next to her.

"Ha ha, very funny!"

"You've finally given up then?" she laughed.

"Well, its Friday night, its past curfew, so if they want to carry on – sod them, let Filch sort it out!" Lily ranted.

"Good for you! Where's James then?"

"I think he's still out there. Poor bloke doesn't realise he's fighting a losing battle," Lily yawned.

"Well pet, I think you should head on up to bed. You'll need all your beauty sleep for tomorrow!" Alice said excitedly.

"Ok," Lily laughed at the sight of the usually sensible Alice getting excited by a ball. "Goodnight then."

Lily walked to her room that night with a smile on her face, and spent a good few hours tossing and turning before she could get to sleep, filled with excitement and worry of what the next day would bring.

* * *

On the morning of the ball, Valentine's Day, Lily sat in the Head's common room and waited… and waited… and waited. James had got up and left earlier on, leaving Lily plenty of time to do what she needed to. All she needed now was for him to come back, which he didn't seem very intent on doing. 

She had really wanted to be there when he came in, but Lily was a very impatient person, and she had a lot of other things to do that day. Deciding that enough was enough, she was just about to leave the Head quarters when – finally – the portrait door opened, and a very sweaty, but exuberant James bounded through it.

"Where have you been?" Lily snapped a bit loudly. "I mean, you've been gone all morning, I was a bit worried some of the love struck children had got you," she covered herself.

"Quidditch practice," James replied, seemingly oblivious to Lily's slightly odd behaviour. "We haven't had time during the week, so I called a practice this morning."

"I bet they all loved you for that!" Lily exclaimed. "Especially Caitlin, she usually takes a full day to get ready for a ball."

"Yea well, I don't think that's going to bother her too much," James sighed.

"What do you mean?" Lily said sharply.

"Caitlin's not going tonight," James said gently.

"WHAT! What do you mean she's not going! She's been going on about this for weeks! Oh just wait 'til I get a hold of Sirius Black! I bet he's behind this! He's always hated balls!"

James caught Lily by the shoulders just as she was about to run down the staircase.

"Listen to me," he said, maintaining a gentle voice. "This has nothing to do with Sirius. This is Caitlin's decision. If she doesn't want to go, she doesn't want to go, so just leave it!"

He let go, and Lily went and sat huffily down at one of the desks.

"I'm going to go have a shower," James told her unnecessarily. Lily grunted in reply to him as he went into his room.

It took about two and a half seconds before James came flying back into the common room again, and about another three, before Lily could see through her temper to realise why he had.

He was holding a hastily unwrapped wooden quidditch player in one hand, and a small card in the other.

"Seems I have a gift," he said suavely, although his face showed he was in complete shock. "Wonder who it's from?"

Before he had come into the room and told her about Caitlin, Lily had been perfectly willing to tell him it was her and jump gleefully into his arms, but now –

"Avril?" she suggested.

"Don't think so," James replied, rather annoyingly Lily thought.

"Why not? I mean she's the one who's totally in love with you James. She trails you everywhere you go."

"Yes, but there's not enough dashes for Avril," James said thoughtfully.

"What do you mean not enough dashes?" Lily asked haughtily.

"Well the card reads 'To James, I think I've got it sorted now. Love dash dash dash dash.' There are five dashes for Avril so it couldn't be her. Now who do I know that only has four letters in their name?" he said pointedly.

"You know James, I have absolutely no idea. Maybe Peter's changed his name to Pete. Now if you don't mind I have work to do…" Lily turned briskly round in her seat and concentrated hard on a blank piece of parchment sitting on the desk.

"Lily?"

She looked up to find James kneeling down beside her, resting his chin on the side of her desk.

"Yes James?"

"You know the ball tonight?"

"Yes James."

"You know the way we can't bring partners?"

"Yes James!" Lily said exasperatedly. "Is there any point to this?"

"I was wondering if maybe you'd like to _not _go with me?" he said with a cheeky smile.

Lily felt her hard exterior melting, and an equally cheeky grin spread across her face.

"Well?" James asked again.

"Well, maybe I wouldn't," Lily teased.

"But maybe you would?" James said hopefully.

"Maybe," she teased again.

"Maybe yes?"

"Just maybe."

James stood up looking rather pleased with himself.

"Well maybe I _won't_ see you there then."

He started to walk to his room again.

"Maybe!" Lily shouted just as he was about to close the door.

He turned round and gave her a small wink.

* * *

Didn't take too long that time. Next chapter should be along shortly. I'm planning to get the story finished before 16th July!

* * *

**Flame of Desire:** Thanks for reviewing! 

**MJshunpike: **Thanks for reviewing. I know, I hate fics where they just start randomly making out because they've had a massive fight – nobody does that. Hope your story is coming along!

**elements-of-the-soul: **Ok there will be a definite ending-ish. There's 40 chapters in this story and it will have its own little ending and then I'm planning to do a sequel up until Harry is born but I'm waiting until the Half-Blood Prince comes out before I start that one. Don't panick I know exactly where I'm going with this story, I have it all mapped out in a little notebook.

**man eating plant:** Thanks for the review. I guess I just thought it was crap because nothing really happened in it.

**rae1112: **Uh ok then.

**CaptainOats+PrincessSparkle: **Sorry about you missing whatever that programme is. There not actually together yet, so technically it's going to take them to chapter 29 before they sort themselves out.

**JEsika: **Hope you enjoyed that chapter.

**Ruinsul: **Hope that update was quicker for you. They're together next chapter I promise.

**Stargirlr: **Thank you very much! I've never been told it was heart-fluttering before.

**BurningIce22: **Next chapter ;)

**SuggaLollies: **Well I hope you weren't waiting too long for that update. Exams are tough yea but I'll try and update more regularly.

**Alantie Mistaniu: **Nope no aliens, just evil evil school work. Should be updating more regularly now though.

**Luvin'it: **Thank you so much. I quite like it myself. Tell everyone you know! I want more reviews!

**leanne: **You know you wish you had my talent!

**ruberduckysrfun: **Only Lily's mum is dead. Happy Belated Birthday btw. I'm glad you can now enjoy the story legally! Nobody feels sorry for Avril she's a cow!


	29. The Last Dance

Chapter 29: The Last Dance

"Very nice, Mr Potter, very nice."

"Why thank you," James replied, trying to sound debonair.

He was just walking down the bottom few steps of the head quarter's staircase, adjusting the cuffs on his dress robes. They were jet black, apart from a trim of red silk around each cuff and the neck.

"May I add you look particularly ravishing yourself, Miss Kenworthy?"

Caitlin smirked back at him. She was lying on one of the settees in the common room, her curly blonde locks scrunched back in a pony tail, wearing pyjama bottoms and one of Sirius' jumpers.

"Cutting it a bit fine are you not?" she asked, her eyes returning to the book she was reading.

"I like to be fashionably late," James replied suavely again.

Caitlin rolled her eyes at him.

"Cait are you sure you won't come tonight?" James tried. "It'll be good fun. We can make fun of other people's outfits together!"

"As delightful – and girly – as that sounds, I'm afraid I'll have to give it a miss." James gave a whimper like a hurt puppy. "I'm just not in the party mood, James," Caitlin said firmly.

"Alright then," James conceded, realising it was better not to push the subject. "Won't be the same without you though. I'll tell you all about it tomorrow," he said, as he leant down and gave her a quick kiss on the forehead.

It was bad enough that he had lost two people who were practically his aunt and uncle at New Years, but it hurt James even more to see the one friend he had had his whole life so sad and confused like this. He was praying for the day she would get back to normal.

"WAIT!" a voice bellowed down the boys' staircase.

Sirius stumbled out at the bottom, apparently in the midst of a great battle with his dress robes. Caitlin obligingly got up out of her seat and fixed them for him.

"_You're_ going?" James asked incredulously, as he watched Caitlin lovingly fix Sirius' collar button.

"And why not?" Sirius replied.

"You _hate_ balls," James pointed out. "And I thought you would have stayed here with Caitlin."

"I don't need anyone to baby-sit me," Caitlin protested. "Besides I want you all cleared out so I can have peace with my book!"

"So that means you're my date for this evening," Sirius said gleefully.

"Now I don't know about that mate…" James began.

"It's me or Avril."

"Padfoot, did I tell you how wonderfully that colour matches your eyes?" James said sincerely.

"Oh do you really think so?" Sirius replied, giving them a flutter.

"Well, you two have a good time," Caitlin laughed, sitting back down with her book. "And be good, and if you can't be good be careful!"

"We'll try!" the boys chorused, as they grabbed each other's hand and skipped out of the portrait hole.

"Seriously though," James began once the Fat Lady had closed firmly behind them. "Do you think she'll be alright in there by herself?"

"Well," Sirius sighed, as if he had been giving this some serious thought. "She made such a big fuss of making me go tonight, I think she just wants some time on her own to think. I mean, the last time she was at a party was when her parents were killed, so maybe the ball had triggered something? I think its best just to leave her to maybe sort out some things in her head. Besides I'll only be down here for a little while and then I'll go back and check on her."

"Well if you're sure," James replied. "She'll be missing all the fun though."

"Prongs, what fun? It's a ball. It'll be crap. Like all balls are crap."

"No," James contradicted him with a knowing smile. "This one should be more fun than most."

"And why's that?" Sirius asked, intrigued.

"Just a feeling I have," James smirked again.

"Just a feeling eh? Well I hope your feeling's right; otherwise I am going to have one very dull night!"

With that the pair of them walked into the now unrecognisable Great Hall, and so commenced their last ever ball at Hogwarts.

* * *

"You know this really depresses me," Remus stated simply. James and he were standing on one side of the Great Hall, surveying the party that was going on all around them. They had been there for about two hours now, and James was yet to see Lily. 

"Great, remind me not to bring you to any more joyful occasions," James replied.

"No but looks around you Prongs, this is our last dance at Hogwarts," Remus said grandly, gesturing his hands round the room.

"Oh don't start that rubbish," James scoffed.

"What rubbish?" Remus said startled.

"This 'oh this is the last time we'll do this at Hogwarts' or 'this is the last time we'll do that at Hogwarts' or 'this is the last 5th April we'll eat breakfast at Hogwarts'!"

"Well now you come to mention it, this 5th April will be the last time we eat breakfast at Hogwarts on that date," Remus said solemnly, mockingly raising his glass.

"Just remind me to go to Hogsmeade that morning," James shot back. The pair of them chuckled slightly as Peter arrived.

"Alright?" he puffed.

"Alright Wormtail? All danced out are we?" James jested.

"You can laugh, but at least I'm not stood here like a wallflower!" Peter shot back. He bust a little move to proof his point.

"Wormtail, what age is that girl you've been dancing with? Eight?" Remus had taken slight offence at Peter's last remark.

"No she's in fifth year. And what does it matter anyway? I'm not going to marry her, I'm only having a laugh," Peter said breezily.

"Whoooo! Party!" Sirius had just joined them.

"What the hell has got into you?" James exclaimed. "I thought you were meant to be my date. I haven't seen you all night!"

"Darling I'm so sorry. Will you ever forgive me?" Sirius said sincerely.

"Oh alright then," James said, pretending to blush. "But only because you're so devilishly handsome."

"Thank you," Sirius mouthed seductively.

"I thought you hated balls?" Remus interrupted them before they could take it any further.

"I did!" Sirius cried happily, as though glad someone had finally pointed this out. "BUT that was until I discovered the joys of coming without a partner, and also the joys of girls who are young enough to be – well girls who are just too young!"

"Sirius what have you been doing with the… third years I'm guessing?" Remus said warningly.

"Formation dancing!"

Of all the answers he could have said, James was never expecting to hear that one.

"I'm sorry what?" he spluttered.

"It's great! You all stand round in a circle, and someone's the leader and all you have to do is copy them," Sirius explained. "They think I'm some kind of God," he mused.

"Well they are in third year," Peter said, as if this explained their lack of judgement.

"They are completely in awe of me," Sirius went on.

"They're probably a bit freaked out," Remus interrupted.

"See me and Leanne Brown," Sirius continued, ignoring him. "We're like that!" He held up his crossed fingers in front of them all.

"What's this about you and my _13_ _year old_ sister?" Robbie asked, as he walked past with Scarlet.

"She's my new best friend," Sirius replied innocently. Robbie looked a bit annoyed.

"Look Robbie, you should be happy for Sirius. He's finally found someone on his intellectual level," Remus said shrewdly.

"Scarlet, would you lend Sirius your handbag so he can dance round it?" James asked politely.

Scarlet gave a nervous laugh; James suspected she hadn't understood the joke.

"Right come on, you both are not standing here all night!" Sirius said abruptly, pointing at James and Remus. "Come dance with the third years! You too Wormtail!"

"Somehow I don't think 'the swim' is exactly my thing," Remus declined.

"Spoilsport! What about you Prongs?" Sirius asked eagerly.

"Nah mate, I'm alright here thanks," James said innocently enough, although he did notice Scarlet give him a slightly penetrating glare as he said it.

"Awh well, at least I can say I tried. Come on Wormtail," Sirius beckoned.

"Ooo can I be the leader?" Peter asked excitedly.

"Course you can! At least someone's getting in the party mood," he added to James.

"My party hasn't started yet," James muttered to himself, at which Scarlet gave him another glare, as she and Robbie walked off into the throng of the dancing.

He looked down at his watch and saw it was nearly half past ten. It was getting quite late, and James felt his heart sink as he realised that Lily wasn't going to show. He had been so sure that the "maybe" had meant yes, but maybe she had had second thoughts; maybe she wasn't over her mother's death yet.

He scanned the room hard again, searching every nook and cranny with his eyes, making sure that he hadn't missed her – but how could he? If Lily was in the room, she would be the only thing he would see. She definitely wasn't there.

He stared moodily at his feet, wondering how long it would be before he could leave without leaving Remus in the lurch.

The opportunity came faster than he had expected.

"Remus would you like to dance?" Both Remus and James looked up in shock. It was Scarlet who had spoken.

"I would be delighted," Remus managed to say chivalrously, once he had composed himself. Scarlet and he had never been that close, he was much fonder of Alice. However, he offered her his arm and led her to the dance floor.

James stood for another few minutes, waiting until the next two songs were over to see if Remus would come back. Halfway through the third song he decided he must have got waylaid, and it was safe enough for him to leave. He gave the room another quick glance and noticed that the third years were now dancing happily in the far corner without Sirius and Peter.

He was just about to nip out unnoticed when a hand, with brightly painted red finger nails, grabbed his arm from behind. He spun round to find Avril in an equally bright red dress standing behind him.

"Are you not having a good time Jay?" she asked, what she probably thought was seductively.

"No, no, I am. I'm having a great time," James lied. Admitting he wasn't would only lead to the whole 'well what can I do to cheer you up?' conversation he would rather steer away from.

"Oh," said Avril slightly taken aback. "Well it didn't look like it…" she trailed off, not knowing what to say next.

"Well I take it back Avril," came a familiar voice from behind James, breaking the awkward silence. "I can see why you're in Gryffindor now. You'd _have_ to be brave to try and woo him with a chat up line like that."

James looked round to see Caitlin, still in her pyjamas and Sirius' jumper, standing with her hands on her hips behind him.

"Come on I really need to talk to you," she said grabbing his hand, and not waiting for Avril or he to respond she started to quickly lead him out of the hall.

"Caitlin, you do realise you're still in your pyjamas don't you?" James asked carefully, noticing the strange looks they were getting.

"James please, this is important," Caitlin pleaded.

"What is it?" James asked, suddenly taking it more seriously. For some reason he thought of his parents and a sick feeling ran through his stomach.

"Not here," Caitlin insisted, dragging him into the entrance hall. There he noticed Frank, Alice, Scarlet and Robbie huddled in one corner, talking in hurried whispers. The feeling of dread worsened.

He had no idea where they were heading at all, and before he had even had time to register the glances his four housemates had given him, Caitlin had whisked him out of the entrance hall and into the grounds.

"Caitlin please tell me what it is!" James pleaded. He wasn't sure whether it was the cold or fear, but his voice trembled as he spoke.

Caitlin didn't answer but started to move even faster, the pair of them were practically running now. They kept going for what felt like an eternity, and James had completely lost all sense of where they might be.

The faster they went the looser Caitlin seemed to hold James' hand, until suddenly she let go completely and sprinted into the distance.

James didn't even have the breath to call after her. He just fell to his knees exhausted, wondering what the hell was going on.

He looked around in the darkness, but could see nothing. Caitlin had pulled him out of the bright hall so fast that his eyes hadn't adjusted yet. He reckoned he must be on the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest, but exactly where he didn't have a clue.

He sat and wondered about what he could possibly do next. His wand lay forgotten in his bedroom, and he couldn't transform into a stag for fear that there might be someone watching him.

He was just right, for about 200 yards away, standing in the trees, two shadowy figures were surveying the scene.

* * *

"Bit extreme all this is it not?" the first figure spoke. 

"Well, desperate times call for desperate measures," the second said firmly. "He'll thank us in the long run."

"Have I… missed anything?" a third figure puffed, as they ran in.

"No not at all," the second reassured. "He's just sitting there panicking."

"Good, good."

"I can't believe you went into the ball in your pyjamas," the first laughed.

"Yes well… desperate times… desperate measures…" Caitlin panted.

"Yea, that's what Padfoot just said," Remus agreed.

"Is she there?" Caitlin asked.

"Yes about 50 feet to the left of him," Remus replied.

"They haven't noticed each other yet," Sirius added.

"I see her now," Caitlin answered. "Have you given Peter his cue?"

"Yep, should be any minute now," Sirius confirmed.

"How'd you get her down here anyway?" Caitlin asked.

"I told her you needed to speak to her," Remus replied. "Pretended I didn't know where you'd gone when we got here, said I'd go find you. She's waiting for me to come back."

"Does she know where she is?" Caitlin asked.

"She knows she's near the forest, but I don't think she's worked out exactly where yet. I just said you had been going out for a walk and I thought this is where'd you be – I didn't feel the need to put the fear of Merlin in her," Remus said pointedly.

"Well what can I say? I like a bit of drama!" Caitlin shrugged off his remark.

"Do you not think this is dramatic enough without having James think that his _life_ is in danger?" Remus snapped.

"Look I…"

"Shush the pair of you," Sirius scolded. "They'll hear us. Besides I think it's starting to move."

"Took me ages to find you!" Peter exclaimed as he transformed from a rat. "This place seems a lot bigger when you're that small."

"Well it's only starting now so you made it in plenty of time," Caitlin reassured him.

"Let's just hope it doesn't kill them," Remus added morbidly.

"I can't look," Peter said squeamishly.

WHOOSH

"There it goes," Sirius stated.

"Thank Merlin James is sitting down, that would have taken his head off!" Caitlin exclaimed.

"Well that gives him a bit of warning, he'll realise where he is now," Sirius comforted her.

SWISH

"See he jumped that one," Sirius said almost happily.

"Yea but it almost got Lily though," Peter said, sounding petrified.

SWOOP

"To think all this because Scarlet told me about that little figure she bought him for Valentines," Remus mused.

"Well at least she had the sense to realise James was waiting for Lily to come to the ball, when Lily was in the entrance hall all evening!" Caitlin said exasperated. "We had to do something!"

"Yes, it was either this, or let them try and sort it out for themselves, which would probably take _another_ seven years!" Sirius pointed out.

WHOMP

"There we go," Sirius smiled.

"Thrown together at last," Caitlin whispered.

* * *

"James?" Lily squealed as she was heavily thrust into his arms. 

"Yep," was all James could reply. He was trying to work out just exactly which way was _away_ from the Whomping Willow.

"What's going on? Who's attacking us?" she asked, panic-stricken.

"THAT!" James called, pointing to the trunk of the Whomping Willow. His eyes had now adjusted so he could just make it out in the darkness. "Come on!" he said, grabbing Lily forcibly round the waist and dragging her backwards.

He collapsed backwards onto the ground, Lily landing on top of him, just as the last branch took a swipe at them – luckily they were just beyond its reach.

Lily got up onto her hands and knees and tried to scurry away from it even more.

James just lay back and started to laugh.

"Don't worry Lily it can't get us now," he tried to reassure her, but because he was laughing she didn't seem to believe him.

"Sod off Potter," she spat.

"What!" James hated it when she called him by his surname. "What did I do? It wasn't me that brought you down here!"

"Yes but it was one of your friends! You probably had it all planned! You lot probably thought it would be funny to try and get me killed!"

"Well it was _your_ friend that brought me down here. I didn't know what was going on," James argued.

"You do now though?" Lily accused.

"Yes I do," James said calmly. "Lily Evans I believe we've been set up."

"By who?"

"Well I'm guessing most of the 7th year Gryffindors," James surmised, getting up from the wet ground and dusting down his robes.

"Well Remus brought me down," Lily began the list.

"Caitlin brought me," James continued. "I know for a fact Wormtail had something to do with this," he added, thinking of the only animagus he knew what small enough to hit the knot to activate the tree. "And Alice, Frank, Robbie and Scarlet were looking pretty suspicious when Caitlin was bringing me down here."

"And the whole 'killer tree' episode just reeks of your friend Mr Black," Lily finished.

"Yea," James laughed softly. "I dare say that was Padfoot's idea."

"So we have been set up."

"Yep."

"Do you think their watching us?"

"Oh yes," James laughed, as if this would have been obvious.

"I think we should move."

"So do I," James agreed, offering his arm to Lily liked he'd seen Remus do with Scarlet about 20 minutes before.

They didn't speak again until there were sure they were a good distance away from the Whomping Willow.

"Why would they go to all this trouble to get us out here?" Lily asked.

"Oh I wonder," James said sarcastically. Lily seemed to get the idea, and turned her face away from him. "Why didn't you come to the ball? I thought you were going to come and meet me?" James asked dejectedly. He stopped walking, took off the cloak of his robes and sat down on it. They were just beside the lake.

"I did!" Lily protested. She was still standing facing him. "I mean I was going to! I walked into the hall – and then I turned round and walked out again."

"Why?" James asked, looking up at her.

"You wouldn't understand James," Lily said quietly.

"Try me."

"I walked in, and I saw you and Remus standing, so I walked out and spent the night with Frank and Alice in the entrance hall," she paused. "You were in your designer robes and I was in something I picked up off a bargain rail. It just brought it all home to me you know? How I've no money, and how my mum is dead, and my dad is going crazy and my sister is just so… UGH! You don't need someone with my baggage James, it wouldn't be fair on you."

"Sit down," James said quietly, patting a bit of free cloak beside him. Lily did as he asked.

"Do you think my life is easy?" he asked simply, staring hard at the lake in front of him.

"Well I…"

"Do you not think I need to go a little crazy sometimes too?" he continued. "Do you not think every single person we just named, that brought us down here tonight, that they all don't have their own baggage as well?"

"I never really…"

"If you think that your life is too complicated at the moment, and you need to wait until it calms down a bit before you can have a boyfriend, let me tell you Lily, with the way our world is at the minute, your going to be waiting for a very long time."

"James I…"

"And if it is complication your worried about," he cut her off again. "Then let me make this really simple for you – cause I know with us, simplicity has never really been our strong point," he laughed softly.

Finally taking his eyes off the lake, he looked round to see Lily's beautiful green ones staring at him.

"Evans, will you go out with me?"

"Yes," she whispered.

* * *

THIS IS NOT THE LAST CHAPTER! 

How fast am I updating? Anyway I really liked that chapter and if any of you didn't then you can go and screw yourself because it's my favourite so far!

* * *

**BurningIce22:** Hope you thought that chapter was cuter. They are definitely together now. 

**MJshunpike: **James did realise Lily had given him the present he was being sarcastic. Sorry if you missed that. Anyway thanks for reviewing!

**Alantie Mistaniu: **Well that ending wasn't exactly a cliff-hanger. Hope you liked it better!

**man eating plant: **OMG I hate Avril Lavigne too that's why I called the character that! Thank you for picking up on that!

**Oliverwoodschic: **Thank you! I know what it's like to be busy I should be revising for an exam tomorrow right now but I…. :S Anyway hope you enjoyed that chapter!

**Ruinsul: **I know I liked that line as well, but I think Caitlin's bitchy comment in that one well got her back though. Btw I accept no responsibility for your insanity and will not be paying your bill. You read this story at YOUR OWN RISK!


	30. Just a girly chat

Chapter 30 : Just a girly chat

"Hello!" Lily greeted her friends brightly, the next morning.

They all grumbled groggy replies. They were lazing about the common room, recovering from the night before.

"Late night?" Lily laughed.

"Uh huh," Scarlet yawned.

"Not as late as you!" Caitlin pointed out.

"Yes where were you then?" Alice asked flippantly.

"Well Alice, I went for a walk with Remus. You know that, you were there when he asked me," Lily asked breezily, casually lifting up the book Caitlin had lying on top of her and flicking through it.

"But he came back to the ball," Scarlet said innocently.

"Yea, but you didn't," Caitlin let slip.

"Really Cait? And how would you know that?" Lily said sounding surprised. "You weren't there, _remember_?"

"Yea but Sirius told me," Caitlin said quickly.

"Oh really? When?" Lily asked, raising her eyebrow at her. "He's not up yet."

"Well he told me when he came in last night," Caitlin said triumphantly. "I was waiting up for him."

"Oh right is that why you're so tried then?" Lily asked. "Because for someone who spent the whole night sitting in reading a book, you looked pretty wrecked."

"Right Lily you know, we know, you know we know, and we know you know," Alice interrupted, fed up with the charade.

"Know what?" Lily said offhandedly, she was determined to wind them up as much as possible.

"Ugh Lily! You went out with Remus then Remus came back, what were you doing for the rest of them time?" Scarlet squealed fit to burst.

"Oh _that_!" Lily said, pretending to just cotton on to what they were talking about. "Oh I was just out walking with my boyfriend," she said frankly.

She looked casually back down at the book. Had she been looking up she probably would have been able to jump out of the way of the three bodies that flung themselves at her. She found herself flat on her back in just a matter of seconds.

"OH MY GOD!" Scarlet squealed.

"Oh this is just great!" Alice shrieked.

"OH MY GOD!"

"Oh I'm so happy!"

"OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD!"

"Wait!" Caitlin interrupted the other two. "You _are _talking about James aren't you?"

Lily laughed and threw a cushion at her.

"OH MY GOD!"

"What happened then?" Alice asked excitedly.

"OH MY GOD!"

"Tell us… Scarlet! Shut up! Lily, tell us everything," Caitlin pleaded.

"Well first of all you all scammed against me, and Remus brought me outside and left me to die," Lily began.

"Now to be fair, I didn't scam against you," Alice protested. "I was told about it when it was happening. Really it was their fault!" She pointed at Caitlin and Scarlet.

"Well it was Scarlet that told Remus about the quidditch figure!" Caitlin argued.

"You knew about that?" Lily shrieked.

"Yes Lily. It was hardly going to be for your dad was it?" Scarlet smirked. "Besides, it wasn't _my_ idea to leave you both at the Whomping Willow!"

"No well, that was Sirius," Caitlin concurred. "He decided you both needed a good clobber to get you to sort things out," she explained to Lily.

"And in heat of the moment we all seemed to think that was a perfectly reasonable way of getting you both together," Alice pondered.

"Well anyway, after James saved me from certain death." There was a general awh. "Yes, after he did that, we had a row…"

"As always," Caitlin interrupted.

"And then he asked me out and I said yes," Lily finished.

"Your not one for details are you Lils?" Caitlin asked sarcastically.

"No," Lily smiled. "It was my moment and I don't want to have to share it with you lot."

They all awhed again.

"Well what did you after that then?" Scarlet tried to squeeze information out of her.

"Nothing much, we just walked around the lake for a bit talking."

"About what?" Scarlet pushed it a little further.

"School, family…"

She was interrupted by her friends' sudden lack of attention. James had just appeared into the common room.

"Hello girls," he said with a huge grin.

"Hello lover boy," Caitlin said with a wink.

"Cait, you know that now I'm with Lily, it's over between us," James quipped back.

"That's what she thinks," Caitlin said with a seductive smile.

James came over and sat on the back of Lily's chair. He placed his hand on her shoulder, and she looked up and gave him a smile. Within that split second they both knew they were thinking exactly the same thing.

"What the…?" Caitlin didn't get to finish her sentence as a jet of freezing cold water hit her in the face.

James and Lily had both produced their wands at the same time, which were the source of the water, and were now spraying it liberally over Caitlin, Alice and Scarlet.

"Oh yea," Lily shouted over their screaming. "We also talked about how we were going to get our revenge on you lot!"

"I think that'll do," James said, stopping his wand.

"Yep," Lily agreed and did the same.

"I suppose we deserved that," Caitlin said, wringing her hair.

"I didn't do anything!" Alice griped.

"Yes but you didn't do anything to stop it though did you?" James asked her.

Alice grumbled in reply, and concentrated on drying herself off.

While he thought the other three were distracted, James swooped down and gave Lily a quick kiss on the lips.

"Good morning to you too," Lily laughed.

"Ooooo kissy kissy," Caitlin teased. The three girls made kissing noises at them. Lily blushed but James just shrugged it off.

"You all have boyfriends!" Lily said, trying to hide her embarrassment.

"Speaking of which, I think I might just go and pay them a little visit," James said mysteriously.

"Oh they're still asleep," Scarlet explained.

"We'll see," said James. "We'll see."

Lily watched with a smirk as he sprinted up the boys' staircase.

"Why do I have feeling we should warn them?" Alice asked shrewdly.

"Do not indeed," Caitlin scolded her. "We got ours, now they can get what's coming to them as well!"

"I suppose," Alice sighed. Lily noticed the three of them were beginning to dose off again. All the planning and scheming of the night before must have really taken it out of them.

It wasn't long though before they were all brought back to full attention by the sound of a very loud air horn coming from the boys' dormitories, followed by the thundering footsteps of Sirius and company, hurtling their way into the common room – all still in their pyjamas.

"I see you've seen James," Caitlin laughed. "Or heard him at least."

"WHAT!" Frank yelled.

"Frank! Don't shout!" Alice scolded.

"WHAT!" Robbie shouted.

"That goes for you too Robert," Scarlet said, looking round the common room, getting embarrassed about the looks the boys were getting.

"SCARLET WHAT DID YOU SAY?" Peter bellowed.

"I don't think they can hear us," Caitlin surmised. "I think James' horn has deafened them."

"WE CAN'T HEAR YOU!" Remus needlessly explained.

"PRONG'S HORN DEAFENED US!" Sirius continued.

"Really?" Lily said sounding deeply surprised. "Tell us Sirius, why do you think James did that?"

"SORRY LILY?" Sirius said, desperately trying to hear her.

"You're sorry Sirius? Well I should think so," Lily continued. "Now you are a very stupid, stupid boy, aren't you Sirius?" she said, nodding vigorously.

"UH YES?" he replied, following the movement of her head.

"Lily stop teasing him," Caitlin told her off.

"Oh I don't know, I think she's got the right idea. We could get them to agree to all sorts of stuff now, blackmail them later," Scarlet said deviously.

"No!" Alice said firmly. "Now come on we'll take them to see Madam Pompfrey."

"YES I DID THINK THE BALL LAST NIGHT WAS PRETTY POMP FREE!" Frank interrupted.

Alice groaned at him, as she and Scarlet ushered the five boys out of the portrait hole.

"You not going?" Lily asked Caitlin, noticing she was sitting back down in her seat.

"No I think they've got it covered," she replied.

"Hello again," James said triumphantly, arriving back into the common room.

"Well done James," Caitlin said sarcastically. "They're having to take them to the hospital wing. How are you going to explain it to Madam Pompfrey?"

"Caitlin last night you left me within full sweeping distance of the Whomping Willow, how were you going to explain that one to Madam Pompfrey?" James shot back.

"Point taken," Caitlin replied blandly.

"So do you want to go to breakfast?" James asked, directing his attention to Lily.

"Yes," Lily smiled.

"Actually I was wondering if I could have a word with Lily first?" Caitlin interrupted them. "Is that alright James?" she smiled sweetly.

Lily noticed James eye her warily for a moment before he relaxed again.

"Yes that's fine," he said. "I'll see you later then."

Lily watched him leave and then turned abruptly to Caitlin.

"What was that about?" she accused.

"What?" Caitlin laughed. "Nothing I just wanted to speak to you, and he probably was pissed off at me for taking up your time."

"Alright then," Lily said suspiciously. "If you say so."

"So… tell me what happened then," Caitlin said eagerly.

"I told you I'm not telling," Lily remained adamant.

"Yes but that was with them," Caitlin whined, meaning Scarlet and Alice. "This is me! Come on Lily, I'm your best friend!"

"Oh all right then," Lily gave in. She'd been dying to tell her anyway.

* * *

"I feel different you know," Lily sighed. It was about an hour later and no one had returned to the common room yet. Lily and Caitlin had spent the whole time reliving the night before from every possible perspective. 

"What do you mean?" Caitlin said, puzzled.

"I mean I actually feel different now that I have a boyfriend. Like I fit in more or something," Lily continued.

"Oh don't talk rubbish," Caitlin snapped. "You fit in exactly the same as you did before; having a boyfriend doesn't make you anymore of a better person!"

"No I know that it's just… It's just that ever since you've been going out with Sirius it's like you and Sirius, James, Remus and Peter… It's like you have some sort of unspoken understanding you know?" Caitlin shifted a bit in her seat. "I guess I've always been a bit jealous of it," Lily laughed. "But now I'm going out with James… now maybe I'll be let in on the secret."

"There is no secret," Caitlin said quickly.

"I know, I was using it as a figure of speech," Lily tried to laugh it off, but there a moment of awkwardness between them.

"Listen Lily," Caitlin leant forward in her seat. "Now that you're going out with James… just be careful…"

"What you think he's going to kill me?" Lily laughed.

"No but…" Caitlin paused. "Look he's the Head Boy and the Quidditch Captain, and he's handsome and smart, and well… there might just be a bit of a backlash for you that's all. Just keep your wits about you ok? _Keep your eyes open_."

"Cait you're scaring me a little. I think it's time we went and got some breakfast."

"Ok," Caitlin said getting up from her seat and following Lily to the portrait hole.

When they opened it they were greeted by the sight of Avril, still in her red dress, walking up with an overly amorous Hufflepuff.

"Tut tut tut Avril," Caitlin smirked when she saw them. "Spending the night in the wrong dorm. That's got to be a detention at least."

"Actually, it's spending the night in the wrong house," Lily corrected her. "So that's three detentions and a letter of apology to Professor McGonagall."

Lily didn't think life could get any better.

* * *

Just a short one but I liked it. Probably won't be updating for a while but bare with me. Ten more chapters before 16th July. Do you think I can do it? Please review!

* * *

**JeNnIfEr88:** You know, there probably isn't but it was to get across the whole money issue thing. 

**Alantie Mistaniu: **Thanks I liked the last chapter as well. Hope you liked that one.

**Oliverwoodschic: **Didn't actually know I could be that cute, but there you go. Thanks for reviewing!

**BurningIce22: **Thanks for reviewing!

**man eating plant: **I know it was a stroke of genius wasn't it? Anyway I might not be updating for a while but at least I was good for just a little while!


	31. Fly away

I'm sorry I didn't update but I really didn't have the time! Really! Anyway I plan to have the whole thing finished by the end of the summer, cause I've already started planning my next one!

Also could you all join in my celebration dance? IT SURVIVED THE CANON! All the way through reading HBP I was dreading something coming up and spoiling it, but it didn't, except Slughorn, but I'll just ignore him if that's ok? Anyway onwards! I liked this chapter!

PS Harry loves Ginny! Yeay!

* * *

Chapter 31 : Fly away

"Did I mention how cold, wet and tired I am?" Caitlin continued to moan.

"At least seven times since we left the castle," James replied casually. "Lovely morning isn't it?"

Caitlin grimaced at him.

"James its seven o'clock on a Saturday morning. It's damp. It's wet. It's February for Merlin's sake!"

"Yes but you'll thank me when you're up there," James grinned.

"You're lucky I like flying, otherwise I think I might have hexed you by now. I can't believe you made me get up this early! At the weekend!"

"We need to practise," James stated firmly.

"We could've practised during the week!" Caitlin protested.

"No. I had duties, and everyone else had some other club or something which kept clashing so it had to be at the weekend," he explained.

"Well why not tomorrow?"

"Caitlin you know as well as I do that everyone puts off doing their homework until Sunday," James smiled. "So it had to be today."

"Did it have to be this _early_?" Caitlin wined.

"Yes," James said simply, and looked away from her quickly.

"Uh why?" Caitlin asked. "Why couldn't have been this afternoon?"

"Because I have something to do later that's why," James snapped. He was starting to feel a bit annoyed by all her questions.

"What are you doing later?" Caitlin continued probing him.

"Lily and I have a date," he answered shortly.

"This afternoon?" Caitlin asked, perturbed.

"No, this evening."

"Well then why couldn't we practice this aftern…"

"Because if you must know, I'm spending this afternoon trying to decide where to take Lily this evening!" James said exasperatedly.

"Mr Potter," Caitlin tutted at him. "Are you telling me you've had a whole week to plan this, and you've left it 'til this afternoon?"

James stopped walking.

"Now… when you put it like that…" he began warily.

"I mean it's your first date with Lily, could you not have put a wee bit of effort into it?" Caitlin suggested, still walking on.

James became more aware of his own breathing, and his chest tightened ever so slightly.

"Oh Merlin…" he breathed.

"I mean is she not meant to be the love of your life or something?" Caitlin carried on, not hearing him.

James quickly sat down on the wet grass, his head in his hands.

"I am so dead," he said slowly.

Caitlin quickly spun round, realising he was no longer beside her.

"What!" she exclaimed, hurrying back to him. "No, no, no James I was only teasing you. You're not dead!"

"No I am, I am," James replied. "I've been so stupid, I should've realised, I… need to cancel this quidditch practice!"

"Don't be silly James!" Caitlin scolded, but trying to calm him all the same. "Look you've been on first dates before, what do you usually do?"

"Well take them through a secret passage to Hogsmeade, usually the danger of getting caught gets them all excited, and well…" he left Caitlin to fill in the blanks.

"That won't exactly work with Lily will it?" Caitlin said quickly, obviously trying to erase certain images from her mind. "I mean Lils would just spend the whole time absolutely _terrified_ she'd get caught, and then probably turn you in to McGonagall at the end of it!"

James gave a small laugh and then got back to the matter in hand.

"Besides I want my first date with Lily to be different from the others… special…"

"That's funny, because five minutes ago you hadn't even given it a second thought!" Caitlin quipped at him. He gave her a glare.

"Look will you go on ahead and tell them practice is cancelled? I need to sort this out…"

"No!" Caitlin interrupted, offering her hand and pulling him up from the ground. "You've not got me up this early for nothing! Besides, having a good fly will help you think."

"I suppose," James moped.

"Now come on," Caitlin continued giving him a little shove. "We're almost there."

"What did you and Padfoot do for your first date?" James asked, casting around for ideas.

"Uh well let me think," Caitlin mused. "First Remus turned into a werewolf and tried to kill me, then Sirius turned from a dog back into a person and saved me, then I dropped and lost the parcel of 'Which Witch' make-up I ordered and had waited _four months_ for, then I…"

"Hang on, _that_ was your first date?" James asked disbelievingly.

"Well," Caitlin thought for a moment. "That was the first time he kissed me, so yea."

"Sometimes words can't describe you two, you know that," James shook his head at her.

Caitlin gave him a little smile that told him he might just have been had. He decided not to push the subject any further, as Caitlin obviously didn't want to tell him what their first date actually was, and he walked on into the quidditch stadium to meet the rest of the Gryffindor team.

* * *

Caitlin was right, but Caitlin was always right when it came to things like this. James made a mental note to have her put through rigorous tests to see whether she had the 'inner eye'. Then again, it might just be because she was female, and girls always had one over on the boys in this sort of thing. Yes it was defiantly because she was a girl, and Caitlin Kenworthy had the art of female intuition down hat.

The point of this ramble was of course that James William Potter had thought of the perfect first date with Lily Margaret Evans. Now all he had to do was put it into action.

"Leanne!" he called out, as he landed and jumped off his broom. "Oh, good practice everyone, keep it up – Leanne!"

"What?" Leanne called back a little sharply. She, like Caitlin hadn't quite forgiven him for calling a practice this early.

"Look I'm sorry, but at least now you have the rest of the day free," he tried to say brightly. She puffed at him. "Apart from… uh can you do me a favour later?"

Leanne gave him an incredulous glare.

"It's for Lily?" James tried to persuade her.

"What is it?" Leanne sighed. "You're lucky I like her you know!"

* * *

"You're in the doghouse now."

"You're one to talk," James replied coolly.

Sirius gave a laugh like a bark to emphasise this.

It was around eight o'clock and they were both standing in the entrance hall. A few other students were milling about nearby.

"He's right though," Caitlin said, walking along beside Sirius. "Lily is not happy due to your little disappearing act. Where have you been all afternoon?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" James grinned. "Where is she?"

"Upstairs, getting ready for your date… although she's 'not even sure that's still on'!" Caitlin told him. "Where are you taking her?"

James tapped his nose knowingly.

"Well do want me to go get her?" Caitlin suggested.

"Nope," James answered simply.

"Does she know you're here?" Sirius asked.

"Nope."

"Well how do you know she'll even turn up?" Caitlin sneered at him.

James tapped his nose again.

"Ugh! Well we're going for a walk, we'll see you later!" Caitlin said, storming off towards the front doors.

"Caitlin!" James called after her. "You'll never find us!"

Caitlin angrily slammed the door shut behind her.

Sirius looked at James and laughed again.

"She'll try her best you know, to find you," he said calmly, beginning to follow Caitlin out into the grounds. "She can't stand not knowing all the gossip."

"I'm not telling you either mate," James said simply.

"I know, I know," Sirius sighed, and walked off.

"Happy hunting!" James called after him. Sirius gave a small wave as acknowledgement. "You'll need it," he muttered under his breath.

* * *

Shortly after that a tremendous blur of red hair came charging down the staircase towards James. Lily clearly had no idea that James was even in the room, and was intent on running hell for leather straight out the doors into the grounds.

He grabbed her arm just as she swept past him.

"Hi," he said with a smile.

Lily looked at him with a thunderous glare for a moment, and then realisation dawned across her face.

"Rampaging third years about to burn down Hagrid's hut?" she asked raising her eyebrow.

"You fell for it didn't you?" James smiled again.

Lily said nothing in her defence but simply laughed.

"You've really got that girl Leanne wrapped around your finger don't you?" Lily said as James smoothly took her by the hand and began to walk with her.

"Well what can I say? If she doesn't do what I tell her I'll throw her off the team."

Lily gave another giggle as James opened the door for her. James noticed her quickly try to fix her hair as she walked out into the grounds ahead of him.

"Nice night isn't it?" Lily asked as James took her hand again.

"Bit chilly though," James added.

Then he looked at her for the first time properly.

She was wearing a light brown sheepskin coat that went all the way down to her calves, and a pair of flares jeans, over a pair of thick soled brown boots. Underneath her coat he could just make out a green polo neck that matched wonderfully with her eyes. James wondered if this had been deliberate, and then found himself thinking how long it would have taken Lily to plan this outfit.

'Funny things girls.'

He, of course, had put on anything that happened to be clean and ironed, which turned out to be a pair of kaki trousers and a denim shirt.

"Yes, but it's nice to be able to see the stars though," Lily said, it seemed to James, quite suddenly.

"What?"

"Uh, you said it was cold, I said it was nice to see the stars. Are you alright?" Lily asked.

"Yea fine, just drifted off for a minute," James admitted, shaking himself out of his daydream.

"Thanks James," Lily grimaced. "Nice to see you find me so riveting. What were you thinking about?"

"Quidditch," James said quickly, deciding it was far more macho than saying 'your outfit'.

"Nice," Lily said sarcastically. "Where are we going anyway?"

James could feel her enthusiasm for this date slipping rapidly.

"We're here," he said, trying to sound more focused and upbeat.

They were standing outside Hagrid's.

"See and I thought the story about Hagrid's was a diversion." Lily mused.

"Sort of, but I thought I better put an element of truth in it in case I couldn't stop you storming out of the castle, you see. This way I definitely would have been able to catch up with you," James explained, but Lily wasn't listening, she was too busy casting a wary eye around the array of garden tools, and dead animals that lay before them. There was a look of disappointment on her face, and James thought he better press ahead before she decided to bail out completely

"Anyway," he said hurriedly, searching through a pile of logs at the side of the hut. "This isn't the date." Lily's expression lifted a little. "This is the date," James said proudly, lifting up his broomstick which he'd hidden there earlier.

"And that's a broomstick," Lily stated, a look of complete horror on her face.

"Yep," James said, looking smugly at it. "My broomstick."

"And what's your broomstick doing here James?" Lily asked timidly. "Wouldn't it feel a lot better if it were locked away in the quidditch shed? With all it's little broom friends? Having little secret broom parties?"

"Do you think they really do that?" James laughed, leaning on it to look at her.

"Oh yes," Lily said firmly. "Which is why I think we ought to put it back there. Right away!"

"We will, we will," James reassured her. "But not before I've given you a flying lesson first."

"Why?" Lily choked.

"Because I remembered Caitlin saying how you hated flying. So I thought now would be a perfect time to let you try it again. Maybe you'll like it better this time," he said, with a twinkle in his eye. "Now come on," he said getting on the broom himself. "I'll ride it with you, you'll be fine."

"Ok," Lily said, swallowing hard. "I'll try anything once," she continued, as she got on the broom in front of James. "Or in this case, twice, when the first time is so bad that I swear never to do it again."

Letting her adjust herself first, James kicked up and they were off.

* * *

"Lily are your eyes even open?"

"Mm hm"

"Liar!"

"Look James we must have been up now for at least an hour! Can we land now please?" she pleaded. James noticed how white her knuckles were holding onto the shaft.

"Try twenty minutes," James scoffed, but landed with a soft thud all the same.

Lily was still holding on tight with her eyes closed.

"James Potter, if you have landed me in the middle of the Forbidden Forest I am going to scream so loud that all the werewolves are going to come and I will take this broom and fly away and leave you all alone with them!" Lily said all in one breath.

James gave a soft laugh.

"Werewolves don't frighten me," he said truthfully. "Are you going to open your eyes?"

"Where are we?" Lily asked, eyes still firmly shut.

"Open your eyes," James breathed in her ear.

He knew she must have when he heard her breath catch. She then jumped off the broom and ran over to the other side of the astronomy tower where James had laid all the sweets, food, and flagons of butterbeer he had picked up from Hogsmeade earlier. In the middle of this lay an old tartan rug that he had borrowed from Peter, and the whole thing was lit by two dozen jam jars, all containing dancing blue flames. The effect of this made it seem that the whole thing was under water, even if they were actually hundreds of feet up, in the highest tower in Hogwarts. It was quite remarkable, even if he did think so himself.

He laughed as he watched Lily survey all the treats from Honeyduke's he had bought, and he jumped off the broomstick and went over to join her.

"See anything you like?" he asked as he reached her.

His question was met with a tirade of punches.

"You – tricked – me! You – made – me – think – the – date – was – that – stupid – broom!" Lily hit him between each word, all over his arms and chest. The last one however landed in his stomach and winded him so badly he doubled over.

"Uff!" was all James could say by way of apology, trying desperately to breathe.

"Oh Merlin James I'm sorry," Lily said, sitting him down on the rug. "Here drink this," and she passed him a butterbeer. He took a gulp of it and felt the pain ease slightly. "I'm sorry," Lily continued, rubbing his back. "I was just so delighted when I saw what you'd done!"

"If this is what you do when you're happy," James wheezed. "I'd hate to know what you'd have done if it was just the broom!"

* * *

I could go on but I think I'll leave that there. You know what to do!

* * *

**LilyFlowerTheGreat: **I'm glad you like the story so much. Hope you liked that chapter!

**MJShunpike: **Ok so I failed miserably on the updating quick part, but I'll do better I promise!

**BurningIce22: **Thanks for reviewing!

**elements-of-the-soul: **Of course chapters can be cute! That one was even cuter I think though!

**man eating plant: **I know Avril's a complete pain. Anyway I'll try and update quicker from now on.

**Oliverwoodschic: **You hope nothing bad happens… you would need to stop reading in about three chapters time ok?

**Alantie Mistaniu: **Thanks for reviewing!

**lea: **Come get your crap outta my garage you bum!

**needles r scary: **Thanks for reviewing!

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**ruberduckysrfun: **Ok Caitlin has not had her melt down yet and you'll find out about the whole sleeping with Sirius thing in about 2 chapters I think. Anyway thanks for reviewing!

**Ruisul: **Awh well, at least your still reading it. There's bound to be some things people don't like about my story otherwise I'd be so good I'd be published!

**scrambledk: **Thank you. I write a lot of this stuff because of stuff that happens to me (minus the magic and broomsticks), so I think that's why it's believable. And also I only wrote this story because of the chapter in the 5th book, and because it intrigued me so much that I kept getting little scenes in my head so I thought I better write them down before I went insane! Bit of random information there!

**Luvin'it: **Awh yeay. I'm glad you liked it!

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**Sarcasm is my life (amy-mwpp: **Thank you!

**Saer: **Yea you guessed right! But I'll update sooner next time I promise.


	32. More Quidditch Please

It's been a long time. Read and review if you're still interested, it would be nice to know if some of you were still out there. However this story has now become a personal battle for me, so reviews or not it'll be finished by the end of next month.

Love Jill

P.S Just in case anyone cares I'm now turning 20 at the end of this month and in university. My how time flies when you're not writing fanfics.

* * *

Chapter 32 : More Quidditch Please!

Lily was sitting on the rug that James had thoughtfully brought. She was glad of it because it was turning into a cold night and she didn't much like the thought of sitting on the cold flagstones of the astronomy tower. In truth James must have put a lot of thought into tonight. How else would he have known to take Lily to the astronomy tower if he didn't know how much she loved looking at the stars? And the jarred flames were just a beautiful touch.

'He must have been planning this for weeks,' she thought, looking at him stretching out on the rug beside her. The last Hogsmeade weekend had been exactly two weeks ago, and when else would he have been able to pick up all this food?

"So Honeyduke's fudge is your favourite?" he yawned, staring straight up at the heavens. "I'll have to remember that."

"Yea," Lily laughed, starting to clear up the sweet wrappers that lay beside her. "Although I don't think I'll be eating it for a while after tonight. I'm absolutely stuffed."

"Don't do that," James said, referring to her tidying. "I'll do it later."

"No, you've done enough," Lily argued.

"Look, come here," James said, sitting up and putting his arms around her. "Uff – arms - can't – reach !" he said mockingly, trying to grasp his hands together round her.

"Prat," Lily said, giving him a playful shove, but he caught her and brought her into a very long kiss instead.

"Well if I'm fat," Lily said, eventually breaking away. "It's your fault!"

"You're not fat," James said lovingly. "And even if you were I'd still fancy you."

"Awh," Lily said, giving him another lingering kiss.

"As long as you didn't get too fat," James added. This time as he went in for another kiss his lips were met by Lily's palm.

"I think that's quite enough of that, thank you," she said, standing up and walking to the side of the tower.

"Yea I suppose it is about time we were heading back," James laughed, pretending that's why she had got up. "What time is it?"

"Nearly ten," Lily replied looking down at her wrist watch. "We need to get back before curfew."

James got up and walked over to where Lily was standing. He leant on the wall and peered off over the Forbidden Forest.

"Should I tidy up?" Lily asked politely.

"Nah I'll do it," James replied as he casually cast his wand behind him. "Scourgify." Instantly the place was back to normal, sweet wrappers cleared, flames out, and the blanket folded up into a nice little bundle lying at James' feet.

"So…" Lily sighed.

"So," James replied.

"What now?" Lily asked, although she already had an inkling what she wanted to do. She surprised herself that she was even thinking about it.

"Uh well now we head back," James laughed nervously.

"Oh ok." This wasn't what she hoped he would say. "How are we going to get back?" she asked, hoping this would stall him for a bit.

"I was hoping you'd ask that," James said jauntily. He took her by the hand and walked her to the door leading back down into the castle. "I came up here earlier, and unlocked the door from the inside, so we could…" He pushed the door open. "…Ta da!"

Lily smiled slightly, and then looked out over the night sky. She really shouldn't feel disappointed, James wasn't a mind reader and it was the most sensible way of getting down from the tower. She had no idea why she was even thinking about doing something else instead.

"Alright then," she sighed, and started to walk the door.

"Have I done something?" James asked, stopping her. "Do you want to stay up here for a bit longer or something?"

"No, no," Lily reassured him. "You've been great, it's just…" She paused for a moment, willing him to guess what she was thinking, but as James' eyes blinked cluelessly back at her she knew she would have to bite the bullet. "I was thinking we could maybe have another go on your broom?" she said quickly.

"Oh," James replied, looking a little taken aback. "Sure," he said walking over to where he had propped up the broomstick. "Why though? I thought you were petrified before?"

"I don't know," Lily said truthfully. "I suppose I'm just feeling a bit more adventurous," she added as she hopped onto the broom.

"Maybe it was all that fudge?" James suggested as he got on behind her.

"Or maybe that's just the effect you have on people," Lily replied as they pushed off the tower.

James laughter was quickly masked by a loud shriek as they sped off over the Forbidden Forest.

----

"You better not do another one of your disappearing acts with James again today. We need him for the match you know."

It was a week later and the morning of the Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw quidditch match. Lily was sitting in the Great Hall with Caitlin at breakfast.

"For the last time Cait, just because you couldn't find us didn't mean it was a 'disappearing act'."

"Then why won't you tell me what you were doing then?" Caitlin whined.

"We were on a date. We had a good time. That's all you need to know." Lily was only prepared to tell her when she told her what she had done with Sirius on their first date, and that wasn't likely to happen anytime soon.

"I searched for you until nearly midnight you know," Caitlin replied, trying to make her feel guilty.

"Well we got back by half ten, so you needn't have bothered!"

The pair of them were still huffing with each other when James arrived.

"Have you eaten something?" he said to Caitlin, after giving Lily a quick kiss on a cheek. He looked very pale.

"Yes James I've just eaten my own weight in green peas," Caitlin replied. Lily looked at her, but she didn't even seem like this was an unusual statement.

"Uh huh," James said, not noticing anything strange about her reply. "So what were you two talking about?"

"We were having an argument," Caitlin said calmly, not looking up from her toast. "There was sword fighting and everything."

"Uh huh," James said again.

Lily blinked.

"Am I in a parallel universe?" she asked, directing the question at James.

"Uh huh," James said for the third time. Lily was beginning to notice that his eyes were a bit glazed. "Anyway I think I'll head on." And after giving Lily another kiss he left.

"What's going on?" Lily all but screamed once he'd left.

Caitlin gave an annoying all-knowing smile.

"Lily, you've just met 'Quidditch Match Morning James'."

"What?!"

"What's all the shouting about?" Remus asked, as he, Peter and Frank sat down.

"Lily just saw James," Caitlin explained.

"Ah," Remus said.

"What? Does everyone know about this strange mood he's in except me?!" Lily asked heatedly.

"Uh huh," Frank replied annoyingly. The others fell about laughing.

"Fine then," Lily said slamming her knife and fork down on the table. She stood up quickly and accidentally kicked Peter in the leg as she did so. Storming out of the hall she could hear Caitlin running up behind her as the boys tried to quieten Peter's yelps.

"Lils! Lils! Wait up! We're sorry ok?" She grabbed Lily's arm as she reached her in the Entrance Hall. "It was only a bit of a laugh," Caitlin said, trying to smile.

"For you lot maybe," Lily spat, shaking off her hand. She turned and continued to walk up to Gryffindor Tower.

"Lils, come on…" Caitlin tried, as she walked briskly beside her.

"I don't like being made a fool of," Lily stated, marching on.

"We weren't making a fool of you Lils, we were laughing at James," Caitlin said soothingly.

"Why though?" Lily snapped, spinning round on the spot to face Caitlin. "_What_ is wrong with him this morning?"

Caitlin tried to fight back another all-knowing-smile.

"It's just James get a little… _nervous_… before matches, and he kind of comes across as being a little… _crazy_…" she trailed off.

"Yea well, even _I_ noticed that," Lily spat.

"I'm _sorry_, ok? I didn't mean to…"

"It's not you I'm annoyed with it's me, ok?" Lily said it at the same time she realised it. Caitlin looked at her blankly. "I just… I… James is meant to be my boyfriend right?"

"Right," Caitlin agreed, desperately concentrating on where this conversation was going.

"So how come I'm the one who knows the least about him?" Lily sighed, deflated.

"Honey, you don't know him the least…" Caitlin tried to comfort her.

"Yes, I do," Lily interrupted. "I didn't know he went all funny before matches, I didn't know he had a New Year's party every year, and I didn't know he had a Shetland pony named Jaffa!"

"But you do now," Caitlin said simply. "Face it Lils, the reason you don't know much about James is that he went straight from being your most loathed object to your most treasured. The reason you didn't know he went funny like this is because you've never seen him before a match before. In fact you've only seen him in one match."

Lily gave a huffy snort in agreement.

"You're not one of his annoying fan girls," Caitlin continued. "Who know everything from is favourite colour to his shoe size, and you're never going to be. But in time your knowledge of him is going to eclipse them all." Lily smiled. "You've only being going out with him for two weeks for Merlin's sake!" Caitlin added more playfully.

Lily laughed at her own stupidity.

"You really think I'll know him better than the fan girls?" she gasped in mock hope.

"I guarantee it, what with me telling them the wrong favourite colour! Anyway enough of us sounding like one of that agony aunt wizarding wireless phone ins. Back down to breakfast with you, and I have to go meet up with the rest of the team."

"Alright," Lily sighed as she began to walk back down to the Great Hall. "Good luck!" she called back to Caitlin who was still standing in the corridor.

"Won't need it," Caitlin called back. "We've got James remember?"

Lily laughed.

"And if it's anything to do with me, you're going to know _everything _about him," Caitlin added under her breath.

--

Gryffindor won the match by the skin of their teeth. It wasn't that Ravenclaw were a good team, quite the contrary in fact, and if they hadn't been awarded so many penalties Gryffindor would have slaughtered them. But there lay the problem. The penalties. And there was only one member of the Gryffindor team that was responsible for them – Caitlin.

"Could they not just sub her off?" Lily had asked, as she and the rest of the Gryffindors watched on horror struck at the illegal moves Caitlin was making – including knocking a Ravenclaw second year clean off his broom so that the match had to be stopped for fifteen minutes while some of the professors tried to clean him up.

"There are no subs in quidditch Lily, this isn't like football you know," Remus said calmly, but even he looked scared at the mood Caitlin was in.

Lily knew that every single one of the 7th year Gryffindors were thinking the same thing. Was this Caitlin's blow out they had all been waiting for? Lily wasn't sure if she was fearful of this, or relieved that Caitlin might actually be about to acknowledge her parents death. One look at Sirius' face told her he was feeling exactly the same way.

The only thing that had been able to distract Lily from this horrible display throughout the whole match had been James' performance, which had been nothing short of perfection. Apparently spurred on by Caitlin's absolute lack of sportsmanship and morals, James had been able to match most of the penalties they had given away point for point, and had even been able to keep his New Year resolution and let Leanne and Caitlin score at least one goal each. In fact during the times when he was letting – mostly Leanne – score, he was keeping an eye out for the snitch, as to help end the match as quickly as possible.

As the snitch was caught, and the final whistle blown Sirius immediately jumped out of his seat and ran out of the stand.

"Probably wants to get to Caitlin before James does," Frank noted.

Lily's eyes swept the pitch to where the Gryffindor team had just landed, and could see James glaring at Caitlin with a face like thunder. She could also see an army of fan girls beginning to surround him already.

"He'll meet you later in the common room," Remus whispered to her, obviously realising what Lily was looking at.

"Did he tell you that?" Lily asked, as she began to make her way out of the stands. Her first thought had been to go and try and wade through the girls to tell James how well he had done, but now Remus seemed to be steering her away from the stadium and back to the castle. The rest of her friends were following.

"No but…" Remus whispered again. He obviously didn't want to embarrass Lily by having the others over hear their conversation. "Well you remember what it was like after the last match. Just don't be expecting too much from James for a few days? Until he gets rid of the mob?"

"Fine," Lily huffed. How could Remus tell her all this so calmly? Did he really think it was ok just for James to ignore her for a few days because of a stupid quidditch match? I mean did he really think she would just hang around for a few days and let some other girls stroke his ego? Lily never thought she would be jealous of some hormonal 15 and 16 year old girls, but she had a funny feeling that pang in her stomach wasn't hunger.

"Look Lily," Remus spoke again, almost sensing why she was so annoyed. "It's not that James enjoys being with them, but you remember what they did to Leanne Brown?" he added pointedly.

At that moment Lily decided that it was probably in her best interests not to be seen with James for a few weeks. Of course it would be that same moment that James would choose to snake his arm round her waist preventing her from walking any further.

Lily turned and looked at him like a startled rabbit. Remus stopped walking as well.

"Where are you two going?" James laughed nervously, looking between Lily and Remus. "I thought you would have stayed to see me afterwards," he added to Lily. He looked slightly hurt, and his cheeks were flushed red, so Lily could tell he had obviously run after them.

"I would have," Lily tried to reassure him. "But Remus kindly pointed out if I did I would probably be ripped apart by your legions of adoring fans."

"I said you'd probably meet her in the common room," Remus added. "Good match by the way."

"Yes it was fantastic," James said sarcastically, as Remus left them to join the other Gryffindors.

"It was," Lily insisted. "_You_ played really well anyway," she added, seeing the look on James' face.

"Thank you," James replied. "And listen don't worry about those girls."

"What you mean the girls that are standing precisely ten steps behind us right now? James the last time they drew swear words across Leanne's face in boils. I think I have a right to worry."

"Nah you'd only really have to worry if I did something really stupid in front of them," James replied casually.

"Like what?" Lily asked nervously.

"Like this." And in one smooth motion James dropped the broom he'd been carrying over his shoulder, bent down and kissed her.

There was an audible gasp from the girls standing behind them, and as their hatred burned into the back of Lily's head, she found that her initial shock did not turn into fear as she had predicted, but rather an overwhelming feeling of smugness. After all Lily had never been one to bother much with the whole 'who's boyfriend is best' thing, nor did she care if James was the star quidditch player, or the gameskeeper, but she had to admit it felt pretty good getting one over on the people who had teased her for being a frigid know-it-all swot for her entire life.

"Sorry," James laughed as they broke apart from each other.

'Sorry?' Lily's thoughts were screaming. 'I have the most desirable boyfriend in the world right now, who had just publicly declared our relationship in front of the whole school. Do not be sorry.'

Thankfully the next words that actually came out of her mouth were:

"They're going to kill me now aren't they?"

"Don't worry," James said, throwing his broom over one shoulder, and putting his other arm around Lily. "You can take them."

Lily's moment of absolute bliss was abruptly cut short however when Caitlin stormed past them in the midst of an awful tantrum, with Sirius walking briskly, but silently behind her.

"Stupid broom," she squealed a few steps in front of them, and threw it to the ground with such force that it broke clean in two. Caitlin continued to the castle, whilst Sirius stopped and picked up the broken handle.

"'To Caitlin, love Mum and Dad.'" He read the inscription out loud.

The three of them looked at each other, knowing that this was the beginning of the end of Caitlin's denial.

--


	33. Welcome to the Beginning of the End

Wow there's still ppl reading this - don't worry we're almost there.

* * *

Chapter 33 : Welcome to the Beginning of the End

If Caitlin's denial of her parent's death had seemed to go on for a long time, that was nothing compared to the length of her blow out. It had been almost a month and a half since the quidditch match and she still hadn't admitted her parents were dead, although her behaviour had become increasingly erratic.

But none of that bothered James much at the moment, in fact nothing could bother James very much at the moment, not the up coming Easter holidays, nor the fact it was a full moon, nor the fact that he was meant to have met the rest of the Marauders in the Shrieking Shack an hour before.

James Potter was still locked up alone in his room. Alone in his room with Lily Evans.

"I really have to go," he half-heartedly pleaded with Lily, in between kisses.

"No you don't," Lily breathed, running her fingers across his chest. They were lying on his bed, James' shirt lay forgotten on the floor, whilst Lily – 'Thankfully,' James thought – remained fully clothed.

"No I really, really do," James said sitting back, trying hard to think about icebergs, or anything else that would clear out the thoughts currently running through his head.

"But why?" Lily moaned as she sat up as well and began to kiss James neck.

"Because I promised I'd go and see the boys tonight – Merlin that feels good – and what would happen if McGonagall caught us?" James asked, trying to interrupt Lily's current train of thought.

"She won't even check up on us, she thinks I'm too much of a good girl." This was true. Ever since the knowledge that they were a couple had reached McGonagall they had received one lecture on the trust that had been placed in them sharing the head quarters – which both of them had found painfully embarrassing since it was so early on in their relationship – and since then had been left well alone. And ever since they had respected that trusted placed in them – until tonight.

"You _are_ a good girl," James said, although it was more for his benefit than for Lily's.

"Maybe I fancy a change?"

James let out a noise halfway between a frustrated moan and a yelp.

"No," he said firmly. "Remus got some bad news earlier. I have to go see him." Bad news was an understatement. Remus had found out earlier in a letter from his mother that the Wolfsbane Potion which Remus had been hoping would free him from his monthly transformations, would actually only be able to stop him changing into a werewolf, he would still have to transform into a normal wolf. James had thought Remus' mother could have picked a better time than full moon to tell this to her son.

Feeling a sudden pang of guilt that he was not already with his friend, James jumped off the bed and strode purposely towards his bathroom.

'So I can douse myself in cold water before I meet the guys,' he thought.

"James," Lily said in a completely normal voice, just as he was about to reach the door.

He turned to see what she wanted when she threw something at him. He caught it, and looked down to see that it was Lily's blouse he held in his hands. He looked up to find Lily Evans in just her jeans and a bra on his bed.

Remus and the rest of the Marauders were completely wiped from his mind as he walked back over to her.

--

Hours later, James finally managed to drag himself away and head off to the Shrieking Shack. His mind was ridden with guilt as he made his way down to the Entrance Hall. He wasn't feeling guilty about Remus anymore, or maybe he was, he was so mixed up he just couldn't tell. He sat down on one of the stairs and tried to clear his mind.

He didn't feel guilty about what he had just done with Lily, he knew that much. After all, they hadn't even gone that far, and Lily was a big girl, she knew what she was doing, he hadn't taken advantage. And she had seemed extremely happy when he had left her just a few minutes ago, partly she told him, because he had chosen to stay with her a bit longer than go see his friends. This made her feel like they were getting more serious she had explained. And he was taking their relationship more seriously, he was! He had never been this close to a girl before in his life. But there lay the problem. Was he close enough to her to tell her the truth? To truly pick her over his friends? He just didn't know.

If it had just been the case of him telling her that just he was an illegal animagus then that would have been no problem. He was ready to tell her that. But if he told her that then surely she would be able to guess the rest? And he couldn't sell out his friends for a girl could he? No, he couldn't. If he thought logically then this wasn't even his decision to make, it was Remus', and he knew what Remus' decision would be. But logic was being forced out of his head by something far more powerful – but he couldn't be _in love_ with Lily Evans, could he?

Something that Lily had whispered to him, in the middle of their tryst, kept echoing in his head as he got up off the step.

"I want to know everything about you."

And he found himself willing desperately that she would.

--

He was almost at the Whomping Willow and just about to transform into a stag when he heard a voice call out at him from behind.

"What? Are you only going in now?" Sirius asked anxiously. "Where the hell have you been?"

"With Lily," James answered, trying not to look guilty.

"Do you not think Moony is more important than you getting your leg over?" Sirius said with such venom that James could feel his anger bubbling up inside him. He kept his cool though, being Sirius' best friend for so long he could tell it was something else that had wound him up and not James. Although he _really_ didn't like Sirius suggesting things about Lily like that. He had not after all, been 'getting his leg over'; he believed the phrase Lily had used as he tried to loosen her jeans earlier was 'top halves only'.

"Where have you been then if it's so important that we should be with Moony?" James asked in the calmest voice he could muster.

"Caitlin," Sirius said quietly, rubbing his face over with his hands. "She's finally cracked."

"Oh Merlin, you alright?"

"Yea… No… Look there isn't time for this; you have to come back to the common room with me. Now." Sirius looked as though he was having a hard time concentrating on anything for any length of time.

"Why?" James asked. The Whomping Willow had just frozen beside them. Peter had obviously been keeping a look out for them. Sirius ignored the frozen tree and instead grabbed James by the shoulder and led him back into the Entrance hall and back up to the Gryffindor tower.

"Looks Caitlin's really flipped at me," Sirius finally said. "Like really flipped. I need to know if she's ok." His voice was very calm and controlled.

"But why? What happened?" James asked.

"Well I think it might have something to do with her parents being murdered," Sirius said slowly.

James rolled his eyes.

"I mean what happened tonight? What finally triggered her?"

"I don't know," Sirius said quietly.

James glared at him. "What did you do Padfoot?"

"Nothing. I didn't do anything – mandrake." They had reached the Fat Lady. "Don't look at me like that. I'm telling you I did nothing. One moment we were lying on my bed doing _nothing_, the next minute she… well… you'll see soon enough," he finished, the portrait swinging shut behind them.

"Where is she now then?" James asked as they walked into a half empty common room. Alice, Frank, Robbie and Scarlet were all sitting by the fire. He nodded vaguely at them.

"In Lily's room. That's why I need you to let me in," Sirius explained. They climbed the stairs to the head quarters and James opened the lion cub portrait. Sirius took in the room for a second – James had forgotten that he'd never been in here before – before James nodded towards Lily's door.

"You knock," Sirius whispered. "Don't tell them I'm here."

James nodded. He knocked Lily's door and waited, but there was no reply.

"Lily, can I see you a sec?" He heard a slight commotion inside and then everything went silent again. Suddenly the door opened and Lily slid out, quickly closing it behind her.

"Miss me?" she asked as she stood on her tiptoes to give him a kiss.

James cleared his throat, stopping her before she could reach his lips and pointed to where Sirius was now sitting on one of the armchairs watching the both of them. Lily's mood changed immediately.

"What is going on?" she whispered to Sirius, whilst tiptoeing across the room to take the armchair opposite him. James followed her and sat on the arm of her chair.

"What's she been saying?" Sirius whispered back.

"Loads of stuff," Lily replied a bit flustered. "None of it really makes much sense. Stuff about school, stuff about her parents - "

"Had she said anything about me?" Sirius interrupted. Lily nodded. "What?" Sirius asked.

At this Lily turned round and looked at James for a brief moment. She looked a bit embarrassed. She then lent in towards Sirius, as if she was about to tell him something she would rather James not hear.

"She told me that you and she had never… you and she had never…"

"Slept together," Sirius finished her sentence for her.

James couldn't help it. He gave a rather derisive snort. Sirius simply looked at him as if to say 'what?'

"Well," James replied, without actually having heard the question. "What were you doing then all that time she was up in your room? Sleeping?"

"Yes Prongs, we were just sleeping," Sirius stated. James snorted again and again Sirius said nothing.

"Well why all that fuss that you made every time you came down into the common room then? Why make everyone think you were when you weren't?" James asked in disbelieve, completely forgetting to whisper. Lily was shifting uncomfortably in her seat.

"Because we wanted to look _really_, _really_ cool, Prongs," Sirius replied half laughing, half serious.

"Because," came a slightly erratic voice from Lily's doorway. "I didn't want people to know me as the girl whose parents were killed by Voldemort."

"So you wanted people to think you were a whore instead?" The words were out of James' mouth before he could realise what he'd just said.

"James!" Lily gasped.

"This is your fault!" Caitlin spat, reacting to James, but looking at Sirius. She immediately launched herself across the room at him, to the armchair where he was sitting. A barrage of punches and slaps landed all over Sirius' body, but he made no attempt to stop her. He didn't even acknowledge it was happening.

"Caitlin," Lily said gently. "Caitlin stop it. Please."

"Caitlin get off him," James said roughly grabbing Caitlin round the waist and dragging her away.

"I hate you!" Caitlin screamed, James still holding her. Sirius still gave no reaction, he simply rubbed his forehead with his hand. "I _hate_ you! Listen to me!!"

"I am listening to you Caitlin," Sirius replied wearily.

"This is your fault!" Caitlin repeated.

"What's my fault Caitlin?"

"_Everything_!" Caitlin replied dramatically.

Sirius a short sharp laugh like a bark which unnerved James greatly.

"Everyone thinks I'm sort of floozy because of you. They think…"

"You told me to do that!" Sirius roared getting up from his seat. "You told me you didn't want people to treat you like some sort of invalid! Like they were treating Lily before Christmas!"

At this James' eyes flitted to Lily who was still sitting in her armchair. She was very still, seemly trying to draw as little attention to herself as possible.

"Yes but you didn't have to…"

"What?! I didn't have to what?! I did everything you asked me to! You told me you didn't want to talk about it, so I told everyone not to mention it to you. You told me you wanted to pretend it never happened, I told everyone to go along with it. You told me you couldn't sleep at night, I let you stay in my bed, even though it's meant I've been in detention nearly every day since the start of term. And you _told_ me to act like that in the common room in the morning so that everyone would 'focus on you for a different reason'. See Caitlin I did everything you asked so you would be happy, so which of it exactly _didn't _I have to do?"

James felt Caitlin relax a bit after Sirius had finished talking so he let go off her.

"So you were the one who wanted everyone to pretend it never happened?" Lily said quietly. "Not Sirius?"

"Of course it was me," Caitlin snapped at her. "What did you think Sirius just decided that we just wouldn't mention it? That would be - "

"Crazy?" James interrupted.

"It doesn't matter now," Caitlin carried on. "What matters now is that I don't want people to pretend anymore. I want to talk about it. I want to…"

"Well you can," Lily reassured her.

"No I can't!" Caitlin protested. "'Cause he made everyone think that I didn't want to and now…" she trailed off feebly.

"Yes you can," James stated again, not fully understanding what the problem was. "We'll just tell everyone that you're ready to deal with it now and - "

"What's your real problem Cait?" Sirius interrupted.

"What do you mean what's her - " James tried to ask in complete confusion but Caitlin lunged at Sirius and interrupted him. "Merlin!" James exclaimed grabbing hold of her again.

"It's your fault their dead!" she screamed.

Sirius looked as though he had just been punched in the stomach.

"What?!" he breathed.

"If I hadn't have been with you that week! If I hadn't have been at that stupid party!"

"Caitlin, if you hadn't have been with Sirius you would have died as well and you know it," Lily said, using a far firmer tone than she had previously.

"No!" Caitlin shouted, shaking her head vigorously. "No!"

"Yes Caitlin," Lily replied. "There was nothing you could have done. You would have died along with them. There was nothing you could have done, same way there was nothing I could do to save my mum."

"Oh don't bring that into this Lily. It's not the same. Not the same at all!"

"Yes it is Caitlin, it's exactly the same. You feel useless the same way I did and now you're taking it out on Sirius. I know what you're going through!"

"No you don't, you don't know!"

"Caitlin, listen to Lily, she can help you," James tried to intervene.

"She can't!!"

"Why?" Lily pleaded.

"Because you're mother was meant to die! Mine wasn't!"

--

There was a very loud silence following these words, ended by the slamming of the door as Lily swept from the room and down to the common room.

"Well done Cait," Sirius sneered. "Would you like to have any friends left by the end of this little charade or would you like us all to leave you alone now?"

"James!" Caitlin called out as he tore down the stairs after Lily. He caught up with her just as she was about to leave through the portrait hole.

"Lily," he whispered as he pulled her into his arms.

"I'm fine, honestly," Lily protested, although she rested her head on his shoulder all the same. "I'm just going to go for a walk," she said after a moment.

"Alright," James said taking her hand and walking out of the portrait hole.

"No I want to go by myself," Lily said, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek and walking silently down the corridor.

James watched her go and then resigned himself to going back to his room and getting an early night. It had been an eventful evening to say the least and he thought he would be better to deal with it after a good nights sleep.

"James I'm so sorry," Caitlin whimpered through her tears as she passed him in the common room.

James waved his hand at her dismissively and carried on.

"She alright?" Sirius asked as he reached the steps that led up to his room.

"Fine," James said as he whisked past him and up the stairs.

He was halfway up them when a familiar howl stopped him dead in his tracks. Remus. He had completely forgotten about Remus. Running back down into the common room to get Sirius, who he presumed had forgotten as well, he realised he wasn't the only one that had heard the noise. Most of the common room was now quietly muttering amongst themselves, wondering what they had just heard.

Then they heard it again.

Looking at the fear in Caitlin's eyes James knew that the howl had come from much, much closer than the Shrieking Shack. Much closer than the Whomping Willow. From the sound of it Remus was right outside the Gryffindor Tower, which meant he was loose in the grounds.

"Caitlin keep everyone inside," Sirius roared as he sprinted after James who had already bolted out of the room and down the corridor outside.

"Prongs!" he yelled as he and James ran down one of the moving staircases. "Prongs wait up!"

"Can't - " James gasped. "Lily!"

"Prongs she won't be outside it'll be alright!" But he still moved slightly quicker when they heard another howl.

When they reached the entrance hall James burst through the front doors and then stopped for a moment. The night was silent and neither Remus nor Lily where anywhere in sight.

"Where?" James cast around desperately. "WHERE ARE YOU?"

Whether he heard him or whether it was just coincidence, Remus howled at that exact moment.

"There!" Sirius pointed to the silhouette of a fully transformed werewolf about 200 yards to their left.

"Thank Merlin!" wheezed Peter as he transformed from a rat right beside them.

"Wormtail! What happened? What did you do?!" Sirius snapped.

"What did I do?! What did you do? You were right there and I froze the tree and then you just turned round and went back inside!" Peter snapped right back.

"Well you should have kept him inside!"

"How could I?! He was already out before I had time to unfreeze it and how could I get him back in?! I'm a rat! What was I meant to do run up and bite him on the - "

A woman's screamed pierced the night.

And three of Hogwart's best students ran towards the werewolf and the cowering redheaded figure, transforming into animals as they went.

--


	34. So Wrong for So Long

Chapter 34

"Lily!" cried a man's voice in the distance. "Lily!" But Lily couldn't see him; she couldn't get to where the voice was coming from. She was petrified but she wasn't sure why. Something was wrong, really wrong.

--

"Lily!" a voice cried again, but this time it was a female voice. "Lily!" This voice was much closer than before and seemed to have a trace of fear in it. "Lily can you hear me? It's me Lily, its Avril. Oh God, oh God what do I do? Lily I'm going to get you up to the Hospital Wing and – oh why is there no one here to help? Somebody! Anybody! Oh Daragh! Daragh come here and help me! Please! Just help me lift her up; we need to get her to the Hospital Wing!"

"What happened?" came an unfamiliar male voice.

"I don't know! I heard somebody shout when I was going back to the dormitory and when I got down here there was nobody else here. Just Lily lying in the middle of the Entrance Hall. I thought she was… dead…"

--

"Miss Evans?!"

"Please Madam Pomfrey I just found her like this in the Entrance Hall! Can you help her? Oh please say she'll be alright!"

"Calm down Miss Knight, and lie her down on that bed Mr Gillen."

"What are those marks on her arms Madam Pomfrey? Has she been attacked?"

"That much is obvious Mr Gillen."

"I knew it! Its Death Eaters isn't it? They're here! Oh we're all going to die!"

"_No one_ is going to die in this school while I remain the nurse here, is that clear Miss Knight? Now Mr Gillen could you please take Miss Knight back to the Gryffindor Tower and then go and alert the Headmaster for me please?"

"Oh no Miss, please let me stay! She shouldn't be left alone like this; she would want her friends with her – James! James should be here with her! I should go get him!"

"Yes well, you go and do that, and Mr Gillen, the Headmaster? Now please!"

--

"Well Madam Pomfrey it certainly seems that our dear Miss Evans has been attacked."

"Yes Professor but has she been bitten?"

"Whatever do you mean?"

"You know exactly what I mean Albus!"

"I have already checked on Mr Lupin, and I assure you he is still securely locked up in the Shrieking Shack."

"Doesn't mean it wasn't him Albus, he was still in the Shrieking Shack the last time something like this happened and - "

"I hardly think Mr Black would have tried the same trick on Miss Evans that he did on poor Severus Snape."

"Well how do you know it wasn't Snape?"

"Because Severus swore to me he wouldn't tell anyone about what he saw that night, and as yet he has remained true to his word."

"Well the fact remains Albus. The girl has been attacked, there are cuts and bruises all over her arms were she has protected herself."

"Exactly. The only marks are on her arms. If a werewolf had attacked her why didn't he finish the job?"

"Maybe something disturbed him?"

"Maybe Madam Pompfrey, maybe, but what? Only Miss Evans will be able to tell us when she comes round."

--

Lily woke up from a very long and confusing dream.

"Hello you." James was sitting by the side of her bed with his elbows resting on it. It looked like he had just lifted his head out of his hands as his hair was stuck to the side of his face.

"Hi," Lily managed to croak back. "Sorry. Morning voice."

"You're alright," James replied. "It's the afternoon actually."

"I just had the strangest dream," Lily continued.

"Really? What happened?" James asked, placing his head back in his hands.

"I don't really know," Lily strained to remember. "Just lots of voices saying I'd been hurt or something."

"So you heard all that then?"

"What do you mean?" Lily asked, suddenly realising that it would be impossible for James to be in her room in Hogwarts. "James where am I?" She tried to get out of her bed but found it very painful to move.

"Calm down. Don't try to get up," James said gently. "You've had a bit of an accident."

"James am I still dreaming? 'Cause this looks like my bedroom at home?!" Lily laughed, the situation was too bizarre for her to take seriously.

"Yea it is," James laughed back.

"Then what are you doing here? You should be at Hogwarts! In fact what am I doing here?"

"Dumbledore thought it would be better for you to wake up somewhere you would be more comfortable."

"So he brought me back to my sister?!" Lily asked incredulously. "And _why_ are you here?"

"I came down with you," laughed softly, but Lily could see that his face was far from cheerful. "Dumbledore gave me the time off from school."

"Oh no, does he know about us?" Lily cringed.

"I think McGonagall told him," James conceded.

"How embarrassing."

"Yes well you weren't awake when he was talking about 'the nature of our relationship'. It was… disturbing…"

Lily shrieked and tried to hide under her covers but again the pain of movement prevented her.

"So ignoring that, would you like to explain to me why it feels like I've gone ten rounds with the Giant Squid?" Lily winced.

"Before I do though…" And James made a move up towards Lily to kiss her.

"Yes but before you do that you need to sort out your hair," Lily said putting it into her hands into his hair and ruffling it. Then he kissed her.

"It's nice to be able to do that again," James said kissing her again on the forehead.

"Why? How long have I been asleep?"

"About a day and a half."

"And you couldn't go a day and a half?" Lily giggled. "Horny boy." James said nothing and simply gazed at Lily serenely, stroking her hair. "James what happened to me?"

"Remus is a werewolf," James said without changing his expression. "There was an incident and he attacked you."

Nobody said anything for a very long time.

--

"James," Lily spoke very quietly. The pair of them had sat for what seemed like hours; for so long it was dark outside now. James held Lily close and continued to stroke her hair whilst she cried silently into his chest. "Am I a werewolf now? Is that why Dumbledore sent me home?"

"No," James reassured her. "No, you weren't bitten. Just roughed up a bit, we got him off you before he could…" he trailed off, unable to say the words.

"James who's we?" Lily asked. James said nothing. "I think you better tell me exactly what happened."

And so he did. He told her all about how Remus had been a werewolf since he was a very small boy, how he might not have been able to go to Hogwarts but Dumbledore had a plan that would enable him to attend. How every month Madam Pomfrey took him down to the Whomping Willow and through a secret passage that led straight to the Shrieking Shack. How the shack wasn't really haunted, it was just the noises that Remus made when he was transformed that led to all the rumours. About the argument Caitlin had had with Sirius that night, how Lily had left and gone for a walk. And finally how she had stumbled across Remus in the grounds in his fully transformed state.

"Poor Remus," Lily said when James had finished. He looked slightly startled by her reaction.

"Yea poor Moony," James agreed.

"Moony – I get it now," Lily added with a dry smile. James looked at her warily for a moment.

"Lily you can't tell anyone about this, not even Dumbledore," he said quickly.

"What do you mean? I thought Dumbledore already knew," Lily asked confused.

"He does, he does. But he doesn't know it was Moony that attacked you," James clarified. "And Lily you can't tell him. He'd have to expel him."

"Surely Dumbledore already knows James. I mean if I get attacked at full moon and there happens to be a werewolf living in the castle, it wouldn't take much for him to put it all together."

"Yes but Dumbledore thinks that Moony was safely locked up in the Shrieking Shack when it happened, and we can't let him know that he wasn't." James took Lily's hands in his and knelt down on the floor beside her bed. "Look Lily, I was so scared when I saw what had happened to you, and I am so, _so_ happy to see you awake again – I mean when Avril told me she'd found you in the Entrance Hall she thought you were dead, and I … I … But I'm begging you please, even after what he's done, please don't tell Dumbledore it was Moony. If he gets expelled from Hogwarts it will ruin his whole life." James looked at Lily pleadingly, but at the same time he looked absolutely disgusted with himself.

"James he could have _ended_ mine. And obviously something has to be done if Remus is able to escape from the Shrieking Shack, I mean if this happened again - "

"Moony didn't escape, someone let him out," James said slowly.

"What?!"

"You can freeze the Whomping Willow by hitting a knot on its trunk. When that happens he can get out of the passage. Somebody stunned the tree."

"But who would do that? Who would unleash a werewolf on a school full of children?"

"I would," James said with an empty laugh. Lily just glared at him, she just couldn't find the words. James stood up and let go of her hands. "There's something I need to tell you, something I should have told you a long time ago."

Suddenly an enormous chestnut stag erupted in the middle of Lily's Evans small muggle bedroom. Lily couldn't help it. She let out a soft scream. The stag remained standing in the middle of her room but lowered its head slightly and pawed the ground nervously with a hoof. It was only when Lily heard someone running up the stairs that James reappeared. He was staring hard into Lily's eyes and didn't say a word.

Petunia threw open Lily's door.

"What happened?" she snapped. "What did he do to you?"

It seemed she was even more on edge with having a wizard in the house, than she was whenever Lily had brought one of her female friends home from school.

"It's fine Petunia. We're just talking," Lily replied, her gaze never leaving James'.

"I heard you scream," Petunia said firmly.

"It was… nothing. Just the pain from moving."

"Fine."

"Petunia what are you doing?" Lily looked away from James to see Petunia coming into the room and closing the door behind her.

"If you _think_ I'm leaving you alone in here with him again – You were attacked. Daddy's been worried sick. And don't tell me it's got nothing to do with _him_," she sneered at James. "Why else would he be here?"

"Because he's my - " She had meant to say boyfriend but stopped herself. Was he still her boyfriend? Could things ever be the same after this? She needed time to think. She needed to talk to James, she had so many questions. "Petunia just get out."

"No."

"GET OUT!" Lily screamed, reaching for her wand from the nightstand beside her. James rushed forward grabbing her by the shoulders and forcing her back down into her bed, but the wand was already in her hand. "Don't," she whispered, and shrugged off his hands. He stepped back from the bed again.

"Don't you threaten me with that," Petunia said indicating the wand, her voice shaking. "I have to write to your Headmaster anyway. Tell him you've woken up, he seemed most eager to talk to you. Would only take a few more lines to tell him you threatened me with magic. _And_ you're underage."

"I'm not underage. You come of age at 17 in the wizarding world, not 18," Lily glowered at her. "Don't you know anything?!"

"I don't _care_," Petunia replied with a slight smirk but she left all the same, slamming the door closed behind her.

Lily was still staring at the door when James spoke.

"So I'm not even allowed to touch you now?" he asked quietly.

"I don't know," Lily replied honestly. "I just don't know." She placed her head in her hands, just as James had done when she had woken up. Now she understood why. "You're an animagus."

"Prongs," James whispered.

"And Padfoot and Wormtail?"

"Sirius is a dog," James went on. "Peter is a rat."

Lily took her head out of her hands.

"How James? When? _Why?!_"

"Remus used to tear himself to pieces when he was locked up alone in the Shrieking Shack. It would calm him down if we were with him and if we were animals he wouldn't hurt us. We finally learnt how to become animagi in fifth year, took us three years."

"But then why let him out of the Shack? If he was calmer with you there surely you didn't need to let him out?"

"Got cocky didn't we?" James shrugged. "Sirius and I thought we were big enough animals to keep him in check, and it would be more fun to go and explore the grounds than to just sit all night in the Shack."

"And you never ran into anyone? No one ever got hurt?" Lily couldn't believe what she was hearing. James just seemed to be so calm about it.

"We had near misses sure. Couple of them actually… but no one ever got hurt… no one got attacked until…"

"So that's what you were doing when you ran into me? You were just larking about. Having a good laugh," Lily said bitterly.

James didn't reply. He couldn't look at her face anymore now either.

"I could have died James."

"I know," he said quietly, and when he replied Lily knew why he couldn't look at her anymore. He was crying.

Lily was filled with a strange emotion. Part of her hating seeing him like this. This was the Head Boy of Hogwarts, the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain, and he was meant to be strong and brave. He wasn't meant to cry. She wanted to hug him and kiss him, and tell him it was alright and she forgave him. But another part of her felt victorious. He _was_ meant to be strong and brave, and she had reduced him to tears. She doubted whether anyone else had ever seen him like this. And now she was going to hurt him even more. Hurt him like he had hurt her but worse. She was going to reduce him to nothing, watch him break in front of her. Just like she was going to break any moment now.

"Don't pretend to be upset now James. You obviously never cared that much about me."

James looked up sharply. His eyes were glistening.

"You know that's not true." She did, but it didn't stop her.

"If you cared about me you would have told me. What was it James? A quick shag and then you'd throw me on the pile with the rest of the groupies? Only you didn't get that far did you? Shame."

"Why are you being…? Why are you saying this? I've never been like that. You know that."

"I don't know that and I don't know you."

James looked at her blankly for a moment and then –

"Maybe I don't know you either."

It was time for Lily to start to cry.

"So that's it then," she managed.

"I guess."

Suddenly James had knelt on the floor beside her. He was kissing her all over her face. She could taste his tears mingling with hers. This time she didn't try to resist him, she didn't want to.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered, his forehead resting on hers. "I wanted to tell you but I was protecting my friends. I had to."

"You were protecting yourself," Lily said calmly, tears still running down her face. "You saw Remus attack me and then you left me in the Entrance Hall for someone else to find me, so that you wouldn't get caught."

"I thought…" but he didn't finished the sentence.

"It doesn't matter what you thought it's what you did. And what you did hurts me so much that every time I look at you it feels like my heart is breaking all over again. I don't care about Remus or Sirius or Peter. I just care about you, and you broke my heart. You left me when I needed you and saved yourself."

James shook his head vigorously in protest but his tears were so thick now he had no words to defend himself.

"I think you better go."

She let him kiss her again on the cheek and then he stood up. He was about to open the door when Lily remembered something.

"What will happen if I tell Dumbledore the truth?"

James cleared his throat.

"Remus will be expelled and Sirius, Peter and myself will probably be sent to Azkaban. We're illegal animagi so they'll probably hand us straight to the Dementors."

"Dementors."

"They're the guards of Azkaban - "

"I know what Dementors are," Lily cut across him.

They said nothing more and James opened the bedroom door only to have Petunia stumble through it. Her eyes were wide with shock as she had obviously been listening to every word.

"Stay away from my sister," she hissed at James, hurrying to Lily's side. "Don't you ever come here again."

James simply nodded and left. Lily heard the crack of him disapparating as he reached the bottom of the stairs.

Petunia looked down at her, tears now forming in her eyes.

"That boy," she said. "That awful, awful boy." And she brought Lily into the tightest hug she had had from her in a long time.

--

After Petunia left her, Lily cried herself to sleep. And for one beautiful moment when she woke up the next morning she thought it had all been a dream. That she'd woken up in her bedroom in Hogwarts and her limbs didn't ache if she moved them, and any moment now she'd be able to walk over to James' room to see if he was up yet. But she'd woken up in her room at home, and her limbs were still very, very painful.

She lay in bed all day with her curtains closed tight. She didn't want to see anything outside; she just wanted to be alone with her thoughts. And even though her head was now buzzing with everything that had happened over the past few days, her mind still seemed strangely blank, as if it was refusing to even comprehend the information.

It wasn't until late that afternoon that Petunia came in with a bowl of soup.

"Thought you would finally be up to eating something now," she said, placing the tray on Lily's nightstand.

"I'm not hungry."

"Nonsense you haven't eaten in nearly three days," Petunia continued, trying to sound cheery. When Lily failed to respond she added, "You've got more visitors by the way."

"Not Professor Dumbledore? I told you to tell him I was still sick," Lily said quickly. "I'm not ready to see him yet."

"I know, no it's not Mr Dumbledore. It's Caitlin," Petunia added with a grimace. "And a boy."

"Can I see them?" Lily asked, for a moment hoping it was James, then realising that Petunia had sworn the night before never to let him into the house again.

Petunia nodded and left, but when the door opened again it was only Caitlin who came through it.

"Lils! Oh Lils!"

She rushed to her bedside and knelt down beside her, just as James had done the day before.

"Oh Lily! When I heard what had happened!" She stopped and surveyed her for a moment. "You don't actually look that bad though."

"It's only my arms really." Lily lifted them up to show her the scratches. "And the fact that I just ache all over, but I think that's the medicine Madam Pomfrey gave me."

"And you definitely didn't get bitten?" Caitlin asked.

"Definitely not."

"How are you then?" Caitlin said, as she moved herself off the floor to sit on the edge of the bed.

"I'm fine. You know, apart from the bruises."

Caitlin raised an eyebrow at her.

"James came back up to the school last night."

"How is he?"

"Funny enough, he's 'fine' as well. So for two people who've just broken up, you both seem to be doing awfully well."

"I don't want to talk about it Caitlin."

"Well he didn't want to talk about it either, and one of you is going to have to tell me so I can try and fix it."

"You can't just fix this Cait," Lily all but yelped. "This is not like when Sirius buys you the wrong flavour of bubblegum from Honeydukes. I wish it was. If I knew how to fix this I'd do it myself."

"Then why don't you?" Caitlin asked tentatively.

"Because _I can't_. I can't just forgive him. I want to so much but I can't. He's not just who I thought he was. I knew he didn't exactly stick to the rules, but to run around the grounds with a werewolf just because he thought it would be entertaining?" Lily shuddered.

"They weren't doing that Lily. Remus got out by mistake. Peter froze the tree when he saw Sirius and James coming down but then they went back into the castle and Remus escaped when the tree was still frozen. So they weren't larking about the grounds. They were going back inside to help me," Caitlin finished, her eyes becoming misty.

"That's all very well and true, but if they hadn't been waylaid by you, they would have carried on down to the tree and let Remus out anyway. And you know it."

"No one ever got hurt though, they would have stopped if someone got hurt," Caitlin replied, still trying to defend them.

"There were near misses though. James told me that himself." Caitlin looked away quickly. "And someone did get hurt. _I_ got hurt. And he left me when I was hurt to save his own skin. He wouldn't even leave me up to the hospital wing for fear that someone might accuse him of having something to do with it and discover his little secret. So tell me Caitlin how would you fix that? You've broken up with Sirius for far less than that."

"I know but I just can't blame this all on James. It's as much my fault as it is his."

"Caitlin it's not your fault at all," Lily said, taking Caitlin's hand. "It was only a stupid argument and I know you didn't mean it. Who's to say I wouldn't have gone for a walk on my own accord anyway?"

Caitlin took a sudden gasp of air like she had been trying to hold back tears for a long time.

"No it's not that," she struggled to say. "It's my fault as well because… because… I never told you either."

"Told me what?" Lily asked, but suddenly a thousand memories came rushing over her and she didn't need to hear the answer. The countless jokes about Sirius being a dog. The way James always panicked when Sirius and Caitlin broke up. The slightly off-coloured way Caitlin treated Remus. Sitting up at night waiting for 'Snuffles'. The seemingly unspoken bond they had, ever since fifth year, ever since she had started going out with Sirius, ever since something strange had happened between all five of them.

"You knew," Lily said, feeling like the ground was crumbling away beneath her. "You knew the whole time."

Caitlin said nothing.

"I just thought you knew now because they had filled you in on what had happened to me. I just thought you were just taking it really well… but you… you knew. Why? Why tell you and not me? James said he couldn't tell me, but they told you?!"

"I was one of the near misses," Caitlin said, her tears stopped now. "In fifth year, I was almost attacked by a werewolf, until an enormous dog and a stag fought him away from me. And then Sirius transformed to make sure that I was alright and I knew. I knew who they all were. James was so angry with him. He always believed it wasn't their secret to tell, it was Remus'." She paused for a moment. "Anyway, Sirius brought me back up to the castle, and he was so nice to me that night, he was so concerned. I'd never seen him like that before. Do you remember what he used to be like? Always so cool and composed, like nothing in the world could bother him?"

"Yes, he was an enigma," Lily said dryly.

"Well that night he told me he'd always had a crush on me," Caitlin continued ignoring Lily, a light smile now on her face. "And that's why he was so upset about what had happened, and then we… kind of… started going out."

There was a slight pause before Lily all but screamed.

"Of course he was upset!! He'd just got caught parading around the castle as an illegal animagus!!"

"He was upset because he'd just seen the girl he liked almost attacked by a werewolf! Which is exactly what James is feeling right now, only he's feeling much worse because you're actually blaming him for it!!"

"Because it was his fault!!"

The girls looked at each other, breathing very heavily. Both knew that neither one was going to back down.

"So is that why you're here then?" Lily continued anyway. "To argue with me, even though I'm the one who hasn't done anything wrong?"

"No, of course not. We came to make sure you were alright."

"Who's we? You and Sirius? Petunia said there was a boy here too."

"There's someone else with me but it's not Sirius," Caitlin said slowly. "I don't really know how you're going to take this, but Remus is downstairs."

Lily took a sharp intake of breath. She couldn't help it. She was trying not to blame him, in her head she had already decided it was not his fault, but she had hoped she would have had a little more time to come to terms with everything before they came face to face again. Would she be able to remain unprejudiced? Would she be able to treat him the same as everyone else now she knew his secret? Only time would tell.

"You don't have to see him," Caitlin reassured her. "He wanted you to know that. But he wanted to come down here to show you he wasn't running away from what he's done. And he also wanted you to know that he's ready to face the consequences of whatever you decide to tell Dumbledore."

"Isn't it already going to look suspicious though? You and him asking permission to leave school to come visit me? Won't it look like we're trying to get our stories straight?"

"Not… if we didn't ask permission to leave…"

"What?"

"Well it's a Hogsmeade weekend," Caitlin explained, shifting slightly under Lily's gaze. "And Sirius parked his motorbike in the village after Christmas, so he gave us a lift down. He had to go back though, he had a detention tonight."

"With little wonder," Lily replied. "How are you getting back?"

"Do you want us to leave?" Caitlin answered.

"No, I was just wond - "

"We can leave now if you want," Caitlin interrupted. "I understand if you don't want Remus in the house."

"No," Lily said firmly. "I don't mind at all. I want to see him."

"You're sure?"

Lily nodded.

"I'll go and get him then." And Caitlin left.

It was better like this Lily realised. Better to have no time to prepare. This way she would know what way she felt towards Remus and would be able to deal with accordingly. Before she even had time to run this thought through her head though the door was opening again and Caitlin came back through it. With Remus.

Lily gasped when she saw him. Not because she was suddenly filled with fear or repulsion but because of his appearance. His face was cut to shreds, huge gashes running from his forehead to his chin, and his arms were covered in deep purple bruises which Lily guessed were continued all over his body.

"Remus? What happened? Who did this to you?" For a brief moment Lily had the horrendous thought of James and Sirius turning vigilantes in her honour.

"Oh these?" Remus laughed softly looking at his arms. "These are self inflicted. The boys didn't really feel up to keeping me company, so I'm afraid I got a bit bored when I was transformed and took it out on myself."

For the first time since she had been attacked – attacked by the boy who was now standing bruised and battered before her – Lily got up out of her bed. She walked over to Remus and threw her arms around him. Caitlin gave a little wheeze and then sat down on Lily's bed.

"I'm so sorry," Lily whispered, still embracing him. "I'm so, so sorry."

"What are you sorry for? I'm the one who tried to kill you," Remus said, laughing slightly.

"Oh Remus!" And Lily began to sob into his shoulder. "Why did this have to happen? Not to you Remus, not to you."

"To who then?" Remus asked.

"To horrible people. Werewolves are horrible, nasty people. They're not like you. They're not kind like you, they're not my friend."

"Am I still your friend?"

"Of course you are," said Lily fervently. "Of course, you'll always be my friend Remus." And she hugged him tighter.

"I'm sorry we didn't tell you Lily. But that was my fault. I didn't want anyone to know, and I didn't know how you would react… after Caitlin… But I should have trusted you, I see that now. I'm sorry."

"It's alright," Lily said, finally breaking away from him. "I understand."

"So does that mean you can forgive James?" Remus said.

"No," Lily answered, turning away from him and walking back to sit on her bed. "No I can't forgive James." Remus seemed to accept this, but Caitlin thumped her fists down on the bed in frustration.

"Oh why not?! How can you forgive Remus and me and not James? When this happened to me it brought me and Sirius closer together, so why is it the complete opposite with you?"

"I don't know alright? I want to forgive him but I can't. I just can't stand him anymore!"

"But why? You seemed to like him so much."

"I guess there's just a fine line between like and hate then."

"No there's not," Remus interrupted. Lily and Caitlin both looked at him in surprise. Nobody had ever interrupted them in an argument before. "I'm sorry but there's not. There's a fine line between love and hate, not like and hate."

"What?" Caitlin breathed.

"Isn't it obvious? That's the difference," Remus continued. "You weren't in love with Sirius when it happened to you. But Lily… was – is, I should probably say – in love with James." Lily noticed that for a brief moment Remus looked almost upset, but then it was gone.

"Rubbish," Lily stated. "Complete and utter – I do not love James. As has been recently proven, I barely even know him."

"Lily…" Caitlin began to speak but then evidently couldn't find the words.

"I do not love James Potter," Lily said firmly. "And I'll prove it. When Professor Dumbledore asks me what happened I'm going to tell him the truth. I'm going to tell him everything I know. Let James deal with the consequences."

"But what about Remus? What about everything you just said? He'll be expelled!" Caitlin pleaded.

"I told you before Caitlin," Remus answered calmly. "I'm ready to deal with whatever Lily decides. She'd be right to tell Professor Dumbledore. I've long since realised I don't belong at the school."

-

Lily's chance to prove herself came sooner than she thought. The very next day in fact, when Petunia hurriedly helped her get dressed and brought her down to the living room to find Albus Dumbledore waiting for her.

"Good heavens, Miss Evans," Professor Dumbledore exclaimed, standing up to greet her. "What a predicament you've found yourself in!"

Lily smiled as she sat down in one of the armchairs, Professor Dumbledore did the same, however Petunia gave a forced nod and hurriedly left the room.

"I'm fine Professor," Lily reassured him. "I'm feeling much better now. In fact I think I should be able to go back to school."

"I wasn't just referring to your health, I can imagine that that is the least of your worries at the moment," he replied, with a knowing twinkle in his eye. Did he already know Lily wondered? "But perhaps returning to school would help. It is not advisable to take too much time off, so close to your NEWTs."

"No it isn't," Lily replied half-heartedly, she was still trying to work out just how much Dumbledore knew. His last comment had left her slightly dumbfounded.

"Which is exactly what I said to Mr Potter when he came demanding to be let to go with you when you were realised from the Hospital Wing. Such a rage he was in when I suggested that it was not the best time for him to be missing lessons. Of course I relented, it is very hard to refuse him, as you would know."

Lily gave him a puzzled look.

"He seems very fond of you," Dumbledore clarified, fixing Lily with a penetrating look.

"Yes he is," Lily replied quietly. Dumbledore smiled at her and lent back in his seat a little more.

"So Miss Evans, what happened to you? What do you remember?"

Lily paused for a moment. She knew exactly what she had to do now. Dumbledore had shown her with just a few sentences. Did he realise?

"Nothing," she replied. "I don't remember anything at all."

"You're sure about that?" Dumbledore asked more seriously.

And that twinkle in those blue eyes told her everything she needed to know.

"I'm sure, but you know what happened don't you Professor?"

"I can only guess," Dumbledore replied. "But unless someone tells me all of the details I'm afraid there's nothing I can do." He fixed her with another look. "So you're sure?"

"Yes," Lily replied defiantly.

"Well then," Dumbledore said jumping up from his seat. The tense mood in the room suddenly breaking. "If that's everything I guess I should be heading on. I shall expect your arrival by the Knight Bus back at school tomorrow then? Or if you preferred I have a threstral drawn carriage waiting in your back garden. You could accompany me now if you would like?"

"Oh yes Professor, if it was not too much bother?" Lily didn't like travelling by the Knight Bus much.

"No bother at all. Probably best actually. Had problems with the Knight Bus recently, what with two of my students seemingly disappearing from the village of Hogsmeade yesterday, and the bus having no recollection of them using it."

"I'll just go and get my stuff," Lily said quickly.

"I'll wait for you here," Dumbledore smiled back.

Lily was just cursing the fact that Remus Lupin was always right when the sight from the window on her stairs caught her breath. There standing in her back garden was an ornate black carriage, drawn by four black, skeletal horses. It was the first time Lily had ever seen threstrals, but then it was the first time she had been near them since her mother had died.


End file.
